› added 10 years ago

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TIL that Henry Ford did not invent the assembly line. Even before the Industrial Revolution, the Venetian Arsenal used an assembly line to build large merchant ships in as little as 24 hours, nearly 600 years before Ford.

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oRYLW TIL Tupac Amaru Shakur was named after Tupac Amaru II who led the largest anti colonial rebellion in Spanish American history in 18th century Peru
OoQkX TIL In 1937, Angelo Hays was declared dead and buried 3 days later. 2 days after that, an insurance investigation exhumed him and found him in a coma. He made a complete recovery. He later invented a coffin complete with upholstery, a food locker, chemical toilet, library, and radio transmitter.
5V1xQ TIL that Quasar 3C 273 is so bright that if it were only 33 light years away, it would outshine the Sun in Earth's sky. 3C 273 is 4 trillion times brighter and 886 million times more massive than the Sun.
GYo1g TIL they used boys as young as 4 to clean chimneys. Work was dangerous and they could get jammed in the flue, suffocate or burn to death.
xV0n5 TIL: Mushrooms are the only vegetarian food that can make vitamin D. They contain a “pro-vitamin,” or precursor, called ergosterol that is converted into vitamin D when exposed to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation—similar to how your skin synthesizes the vitamin in response to sun exposure.