› added 10 years ago

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TIL Mary Anderson, inventor of the modern windscreen wiper was told “we do not consider it to be of such commercial value as would warrant our undertaking its sale”, when she tried to sell her patent. Many company’s went on to implement her device after her patent was expired.

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jN9dQ TIL of Grierson's Raid during the American Civil War. Union cavalry rode over 600 miles through Confederate territory destroying railroads, freeing slaves and inflicting ten times the casualties they received.
rNwe1 TIL Richard Nixon is the only President to forgo his life-long secret service protection in order to save the taxpayers money.
0wGVj TIL that Michael Jordan took home economics in high school to learn to cook because he was worried his big ears would make it hard to find a woman who would want to marry him.
9YLE6 TIL that during the battle of Hampton Roads, the USS Monitor's spinning turret became difficult to stop. The crew allowed the turret to spin around in circles and fired the turret on the fly, similar to a "360 no scope"
b6W9j TIL: The world's oldest known recipe is for beer and dates back to ancient Sumeria around 1800