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105

TIL the British East India Company arrested hundreds of local weavers and had their thumbs chopped off in order to destroy Begal’s weaving industry in 1834.

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1xw4 TIL - Most of the smoke billowing up from a space shuttle launch is not exhaust. It is water vapor from the pool of water under the shuttle designed to absorb the acoustic shock waves that could otherwise tear the shuttle apart.
Lv7Z TIL that in 1746, Jean-Antoine Nollet conducted an experiment in which 200 monks formed a circle (1.6 km in circumference) and were linked by iron wire. He then had electricity pass through them which shocked all the monks simultaneously. He concluded that the speed of electricity was very high.
GAK8Q TIL An ancient Chinese scroll from 300 C.E. taught that Laozi went to India, transmorphed into Buddha and converted the barbarians, showing Buddhism was actually only a form of Daoism.
D1W7Y TIL The English word “cowboy” is a rough translation of the Spanish word vaquero, one who manages cattle from horseback
88pL TIL Pi appears as the average ratio of the actual length and the direct distance between source and mouth of most rivers.