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TIL in 1925, wanting publicity for his television, John Logie Baird went to the Daily Express to promote it. The editor was so terrified by his invention that he said, "For God's sake, go down to reception and get rid of a lunatic who's down there. He says he's got a machine for seeing by wireless!"

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OGEL1 TIL when Tim Berners-Lee proposed what later became the WWW, his superior noted it as „vague but exciting“
Vjvp TIL that ZZ Top guitarists Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill, were once offered $1 million by Gillette to cut off their facial hair. They said “The prospect of seeing oneself in the mirror clean-shaven is too close to a Vincent Price film…a prospect not to be contemplated, no matter the compensation.”
9w4km TIL that the voice of Woody Woodpecker was done by his Creator's wife. She had to do so by submitting an anonymous audition tape after Walter Lantz rejected the idea that a woman could voice the male character.
ep4rg TIL the Iroquois had many official Thanksgivings including Midwinter Thanksgiving, the Maple or Sugar-Making Thanksgiving, the Raspberry Thanksgiving, the Strawberry Thanksgiving, the Corn Planting, the Corn Hoeing, and the Complete Thanksgiving for the Harvest
Br8Jb TIL that the owner of a brand name can lost their legal protection for it if people started using it as the common or generic name for a type of product or service. This is what happened to Cellophane, Escalator, Flip Phone, Frisbee, Hovercraft, Kerosene, Sellotape, Trampoline, and Videotape.