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TIL sci-fi author Isaac Asimov refused the invitation to friend and famed A.I. pioneer Marvin Minsky’s lab at MIT in the 60s because he was “Writing about really intelligent robots of the future and was sure that if he came and saw the clumsy ones that we were making it would spoil his imagination.”

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rMQw TIL in Victorian London it was theorized that diseases like Cholera (which killed tens of thousands) were spread by bad-smelling air, until a scientist named Jon Snow determined water was the culprit - he became known as the father of modern epidemiology.
R7Gm1 TIL that the Navy has a program for intentionally sinking old vessels to become artificial reefs for marine life. The first and largest of these vessels was the USS Oriskany, an aircraft carrier built at the end of WWII, which was sent to the ocean floor off the coast of Florida in 2006.
OGZJe TIL that Tootsie Rolls helped save American troops during the Korean War. 15,000 troops faced off against 120,000. They called for an airdrop of mortars using the code Tootsie Rolls. when it arrived, it was actual Tootsie Rolls. They used it to patch holes in vehicles and equipment and retreat.
epvZb TIL the concept of cow tipping, the purported activity of sneaking up on any unsuspecting or sleeping upright cow and pushing it over for entertainment, apparently developed in the 1970s, though tales of animals that cannot rise if they fall has historical antecedents dating to the Roman Empire.
ne7yr TIL Eli Whitney did not make his fortune from the cotton gin, but a later invention, the milling machine. This machine allowed the North to automate many industries and stay adequately supplied during the American Civil War.