› added 6 months ago

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TIL the great mathematician Leonhard Euler once believed the Earth was falling into the sun "where it would necessarily be burnt."

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9YraB TIL that the tallest building in Vermont is Decker Towers, an apartment building which is only 11 stories or 124 feet tall.
Xwo6 TIL Justin Berfield, better know as Reese from Malcolm in the Middle, is now the Chief Creative Officer of Virgin Produced, Virgin’s production company
NX7YP TIL Jonathan Larson, creator of the Broadway Musical 'Rent', died suddenly and penniless the night before its first Off-Broadway performance. Rent made it to Broadway for a 12-year run and won Best Musical and many other awards, all of which Larson missed.
d8Yl7 TIL President Lyndon B. Johnson had no name for the first three months of his life. He was simply called "the baby" because his parents could not agree on a name, but one morning his mother refused to make breakfast until a name was agreed on. He was then named Lyndon Baines Johnson after a lawyer.
Oopy6 TIL early versions of the Thompson submachine gun used a "Blish Lock" to hold the action closed. It was based on a theory that two dissimilar metals would resist movement under extreme pressures. The lock had no useful effect on the action and was eliminated in the WW2 redesign of the SMG.