› added 4 years ago

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TIL while recording Trout Mask Replica, Don Van Vliet, AKA Captain Beefheart, asserted total control over the project by putting his band mates “in the barrel” and berating them continually, sometimes for days, until the musician in question collapsed into tears or in total submission to Van Vliet.

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vE6D TIL Inspired by American independence, revolutionaries declared a United States of Belgium in 1790, but it was crushed by the Holy Roman Emperor in less than a year.
r8gW TIL: The RNA Tie Club was a scientific gentleman’s club created to “solve the riddle of the RNA structure and… how it built proteins”.The motto was “do or die; or don’t try”. The 20 members each had a designated amino acid and a tie. They would exchange ideas over cigars and alcohol. 8 won Nobels.
KOPnR TIL when a person is frequently exposed to cold water and wind, they develop bony growths inside their ear canals. If left undealt with, the growth will completely block the ear canal and cause significant or total hearing loss.
p8EEO TIL There are generally two definitions of "literally": one which is to take something in a literal sense or manner, the second which is to take things figuratively. It's been defined this way for hundreds of years.
BrRRW TIL that Norman Borlaug saved more than a billion lives with a "miracle wheat" that averted mass starvation, becoming 1 of only 5 people to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Congressional Gold Medal. He said, "Food is the moral right of all who are born into this world."