› added 3 months ago

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TIL that Polish model Agnieszka Kotlarska-Świątek, survived missing TWA Flight 800, only to be murdered by a stalker weeks later in front of her husband and daughter

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GYBP7 TIL the director of the film adaptation of The Time Machine (2002) was H.G. Wells' great-grandson. He was also a consultant for the future scenes in Back to the Future II.
kEQd TIL Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English channel in 1926, beating the previous time record by nearly two hours. The first person to greet Ederle as she came ashore on Kingsdown beach was a British immigration officer who requested to see her passport.
0dQm1 TIL that many of the first giant sequoia trees discovered by western explorers were cut down and exhibited at World's Fairs. Due to the sheer size of the trees, many fair attendees claimed they were hoaxes.
07A1 TIL HAL Laboratory’s (creators of Kirby and Super Smash Bros.) name was created to put them one step ahead of IBM with each letter
p8kMe TIL of Doug Tompkins, a high school drop-out and the co-founder of North Face and Esprit. He eventually sold both businesses and started to do conservation work in South America with his second wife, former CEO of Patagonia. A very experienced outdoorsman, he died from hypothermia while kayaking.