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TIL that Karl Marx described Abraham Lincoln as being “a man neither to be browbeaten by adversity, nor intoxicated by success.”

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9YBBD TIL about the botched execution of William Williams. The sheriff miscalculated the length of the rope, resulting in Williams hitting the floor, 3 deputies held his body up by the rope for over 14 minutes, he died of strangulation. The state of Minnesota abolished capital punishment right after.
OGZM7 TIL That when the physicist Murray Gell-Man was applying for PhD programs, he was denied from both Princeton and Harvard. Forced to attend his backup choice of MIT, he was so distraught that he considered suicide.
167VV TIL In an experiment, participants were asked if they would be willing to pay either "a $5 fee" or "small $5 fee" to have DVDs shipped overnight. Spendthrifts were indifferent, but tightwads were 20 percent more likely to pay the fee if called “small.”
XErNk TIL of Cpt. Burris, who during WWII got a 15,000 man German Panzer Corps to surrender to him and 2 men. The Americans were told to let the Russians make the final push into Berlin for political reasons. Instead Burris drove in with just a jeep and 2 men and convinced the German's it was over.
x6kN7 TIL about Helmuth von Moltke. He is the only person in the 18th century whose voice was recorded.