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TIL when Thoreau lived “alone” at Walden Pond the woods around him were actually full of people, mostly former slaves and poor people who had been forced to live in the margins of society.

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via reddit.com

GYZGN TIL about Ben's Game. Ben Duskin was a Make-A-Wish kid with leukemia, and his wish was to develop a game about fighting cancer. After getting several offers, Ben worked with Eric Johnston, a software engineer from LucasArts. The game was finished and made available for free in several hospitals.
xr65 TIL that Rolex & Tudor are owned by Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, which is registered as a charitable foundation and saves on Swiss taxes. But their spokesperson declines to say what evidence is available to confirm that the Wilsdorf Foundation makes charitable donations!
vg7D TIL Albertville, France’s electricity is powered by Beaufort cheese. Since whey is unnecessary to make Beaufort cheese, bacteria is added to the whey. This transforms the whey into biogas. This gas is then fed through an engine which heats water to 90°C (194°F) to generate 2800 MWh/yr of electricity
awl6o TIL Philips developed a double-sided video cassette and player to rival the VHS and Betamax formats called ‘Video 2000’. Similar in nature to an audio tape it was capable of 8 hours of recording (4 hours per side). Ultimately the product remained unpopular and lost out in the ‘videotape format war’.
xDVo TIL that MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) was done at the ancient Olympics. It is called Pankration and is the only event that wasn’t reinstated with the creation of the modern Olympics.