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TIL sales of Swiss Army Knives dropped by almost 40% immediately after 9/11

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PYRAG TIL that a tornado actually starts off in a horizontal position as a rotating mass of air called a wind shear. This is then 'pulled' upright to a vertical position by warm updrafts of air in a thunderstorm. When these spinning columns make contact with the ground a tornado is formed.
yQybv TIL of Boxer Billy Collins, who in 1983 had his undefeated career ended when his opponent, Luis Resto, cheated and removed safety padding from his gloves and tore Collins' Iris in his right eye. Depressed, Collins spiraled into alcoholism and depression leading to his apparent suicide.
xL17 TIL most languages name the game of Chess after their word for “check”
NX7gJ TIL of Connections, a 1978 science education TV series created by science historian James Burke. The series contends that one cannot consider the development of any particular piece of the modern world in isolation but rather that interconnected isolated events is what drives history and innovation.
eRO6 TIL that a British company made a laptop with a graphical user interface, a 60 hour battery life, SSD storage, and a touchpad. In 1989.