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TIL Disney started the myth that lemming commit suicide by forcing them off of a cliff

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vmnx TIL that China had invented ceramics for teacups so early and they were so satisfied with it, they never had any glass right up until the 19th century. They were therefore left behind right up to the invention of medical science never having: Windows, lights, electronics, telescopes, microscopes etc
QNDna TIL that "Hero Rats" can be used as a failsafe to check for tuberculosis at a rate of 100 samples per twenty minutes, a task that takes human microbiologist four days.
jNAyp TIL in Fahrenheit 451 the gov't didn't burn books because they were an oppressive dictatorship. The people voted to ban the books because they had short attention spans didn't want to be offended
XEQMX TIL that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was patterned heavily after Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" . Many of the lines Khan gives are copied or otherwise patterned after Ahab's while Khan himself obsesses over his personal white whale, the Enterprise and her captain.
9BB7 TIL that Kurt Vonnegut, one year before his death, said he would sue Pall Mall for false advertising. He had been smoking them since 12 or 14 years old and they had still not killed him, though they said they would on the packaging.