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Ancient alchemists tried just about anything to turn lead into gold. But if they had just had a laser, they might have been able to make pseudo-platinum.

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78Or7 TIL At one point in the 1980s, China had an estimated 400,000 Esperanto speakers, and the language was taught at a number of universities. Now there is only one Chinese college Esperanto program left
wJd8 TIL the fattest city in the United States, Huntington, West Virginia, has more pizza places than the entire state of West Virginia has gyms and health clubs.
6goJ TIL that “headless photographs” were a fad in the late 1800s.
W5d9 TIL A Pythagorean cup is a practical joke device in a form of a drinking cup, credited to Pythagoras of Samos.
5xMp TIL that Spiral stairs in medieval times were typically wound in a clockwise direction, to place attacking swordsmen (who were most often right-handed) at a disadvantage.