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TIL The Hale telescope features a 200 inch (5.08m) diameter mirror. The mirror took 10 months anneal and was delivered to Caltech in 1936. The telescope was completed in 1948 as it took years of grinding and polishing to make the mirror accurate to 2/1,000,000ths of an inch of a perfect paraboloid.

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R7kVj TIL: The "Fearless Girl" statue that's famous for "standing up to the Bull on Wallstreet" was commissioned by an investments firm, State Street Global Advisors, which holds $2.8 trillion in assets. The statue was to advertise a new investment fund they were offering.
pY7pA TIL that Norbert Pearlroth was the main researching force behind Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. He would gain all the information needed by consulting books at the New York Public Library for six days a week, from noon to 10pm over 26 years.
x6oo1 TIL that when Ireland became independent, the government sought to use the traditional image of the Trinity College harp as its national emblem. However, Guinness trademarked the harp decades before, so the government had to adopt a mirrored image.
XN9P TIL the biggest cashew tree in the world covers an area of about 80,000 square feet and produces over 60,000 fruits each year. The tree gets its size from two genetic issues, which allow branches to grow outwards instead of upwards, taking new roots when touching the ground.
m6bM TIL Wealthy Ancient Greeks sometimes sent their slaves to sit on the public toilets (made from slabs of marble) to warm it up “in anticipation of their arrival”