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TIL: Otis Redding’s “Sitting On the Dock of the Bay” was finished after his body was pulled from a lake while strapped into the copilot’s chair. Oh…and it’s the 26th greatest song of all time.

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16Rg4 TIL about Dr. Samuel Mudd Sr., an American physician who rendered aid to John Wilkes Booth after President Lincoln's assassination and then covered up Booth's location when questioned by authorities. Mudd was convicted of conspiring to assassinate the president but avoided execution by one vote.
ZpJBD TIL when there were less than 5,000 Europeans in the large Louisiana area of New France before 1724, hundreds of good women, and also separately hundreds of criminal women were sent to Louisiana because of a shortage of women.
yVoLV TIL Queen guitarist Brian May uses banjo strings on his electric guitars. Banjo strings are much lighter (thinner) and can bend much easier, making that signature Queen sound.
oE9o TIL researchers have developed a portable HIV test which can test a single drop of blood via a USB drive plugged into a laptop. Its accuracy approaches that of traditional tests, and it could be used in remote areas as well as allowing people to monitor their condition at home.
gKkX TIL in 2005 a gang of thieves rented a house posing as an astroturf company so they could rob a nearby bank. It took them 3 months of tunneling 80 meters underground for two blocks before they reached the vault. They walked off with 20,000lbs of cash worth $65 million.