› added 11 years ago

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TIL Subway Passed McDonald’s as the World’s Largest Franchise in 2010

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XBGR TIL that before the invention of the heart-lung machine, surgeons used “cross circulation” for open heart surgeries - a child was connected to their parent’s heart, which oxygenated the patient’s blood and pumped it back in.
RKn1 TIL during the Cold War the CIA spent $3.8B to construct a ship with a 16,000ft underwater claw arm in order to retrieve a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine.
KYB0E TIL that there is a chemical that is so unstable, it explodes on contact with sharp edges
W7rYX TIL In 1942 actor Lionel Atwill was barred from working in Hollywood after being involved in a sex scandal. He pled guilty to perjury for not disclosing he had shown pornographic films at his house to a group of friends. He would later get his sentence overturned.
epkG6 TIL that natural disasters increase fertility rates