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TIL in 1816 a volcanic event led to what is known as the Year Without a Summer, originating an agricultural disaster. The lack of horse food inspired Karl Drais to research new ways of horseless transportation, leading to the invention of the velocipede, a step torwards mechanized personal transport

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LGmQ TIL Ed Smith created a fake student called George Burdell when Georgia Tech sent him two enrolment forms by mistake. He signed Burdell up for all his classes and did all his work twice with minor changes so teachers wouldn’t catch him. The school awarded Burdell a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.
6ELEY TIL that in 1720 a ship full of precious goods and sick people arrived in Marseille/France. In spite of clear signs, greedy merchands put pressure an the authorities to shorten the quarantine and not to burn the freight. More than 100.000 people died because of pestilence in the next two years.
Ooyd7 TIL that the ACLU was originally founded as the Civil Liberties Bureau after World War I broke out in 1917 to oppose the creation of a draft and protect conscientious objectors to World War I.
KOd1G TIL of Lt. Col. Charles “Bazooka Charlie” Carpenter during WWII who mounted 6 Bazooka’s to his Piper L-4H scout plane and is credited with destroying several German armored cars and immobolizing at least 14 enemy tanks.
X67E TIL that the first Australian woman to be sentenced to life without parole stabbed her partner, skinned him and then tried to feed him to his children.