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TIL Alcatraz's reputation as a tough as nails prison was a Hollywood myth. Many inmates requested transfer there on account of its good food and one man per cell policy.

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awwlM 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.
b6DJ0 TIL "Body Integrity Identity Disorder" is a rare psychological condition where individuals feel an overwhelming desire to amputate a healthy limb, believing it doesn’t belong to them. This disconnect between body and mind leads some to extreme measures, feeling incomplete until the limb is removed.
wojBE TIL On The Cure's first big tour Robert Smith pulled double duty after the guitarist for headliner Siouxsie and the Banshees quit. Smith opened as lead singer and guitarist with The Cure and then played lead guitar for the Banshees. He said the experience heavily influenced The Cure's future sound.
4Xv6o TIL about the 1936 built Russian computer that ran on water and solved partial differential equations.
4XeWw TIL of Joachim Neander - latin for "New Man"- a 17th century pastor who composed music inspired by a small German valley. That valley would be the site of the discovery of a new species of hominid called Neanderthal.