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TIL: In 2011, new students at the Wabash College in Indiana were required to play the video game Portal as part of a course on what it means to be human. The course discussed how Portal's villain presents different versions of themselves, showing a public face, while hiding a different private face.

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8eJGP TIL Britain used an estimated 22,000 servicemen as ‘guinea pigs’ in their nuclear bomb drops in the 50s & 60s
oZ5K TIL a man won the lottery in 1989 for 3.1 million, then spent all the money on crack cocaine, and was later charged with murder. [x-post /r/IfIWonThelottery]
p8bXN Today I learned that the heads on easter island actually also have torsos. In most pictures taken of these famous heads, it shows only the heads but hidden under the ground are its torso. Scientists have 'found interesting discoveries that further our knowledge of the Easter Island civilization'.
m1nlE TIL The serial fraudster Charles W. Morse (AKA 'Ice King' from his New York ice monopoly) received a pardon from President Taft. The pardon was because Morse had Bright's Disease and would likely die in prison, it was later revealed that Morse had been consuming soap and chemicals to fake illness.
R7R64 The first modern crematory was built in the U.S. in 1876. A second came eight years later. By 1900, there were 20. The practice got another boost in 1963 when the Catholic Church reversed its opinion on cremation during the Vatican II reforms and said cremation was permitted (though ash scattering was not). Four decades ago, less than 5 percent of American were cremated when they died. Now that figure stands at nearly half.