› added 12 years ago

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TIL Dementors from the Harry Potter series were inspired by J.K. Rowling’s bouts with clinical depression

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ne7Xd TIL that during a famous Berlin performance of 'Mack the Knife', Ella Fitzgerald forgot the words to the song after the first verse, and ad libbed the rest. She won a Grammy for the performance.
OMX1 TIL In 2001, 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast was attacked by a 7-foot-long bull shark that tore off his arm, his uncle hearing the commotion grabbed the shark out of the ocean and onto shore all the while when the shark still held the Child’s dismembered arm. Surgeons later reattached the boy’s arm.
9YdvG TIL about the Antikythera mechanism, an Analogue Computer from 100 BC used to predict astronomical positions for calendars decades in advance.
oQB7 TIL in the mid-1800s, a snail spent nearly four years glued to a specimen card in the British Museum before scientists realized it was still alive.
BLle TIL that Volvo has integrated a child booster seat into some of its vehicles for 25 years, negating the need to buy and install (and constantly have a seat taken up by) a third-party booster seat.