› added 5 years ago

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TIL Willem Kolff created the first dialysis machine in the Netherlands during WWII. Lacking materials, he used sausage casings, tin cans, a washing machine, and salt water. He also saved more than 800 people from the Nazis by hiding them in his hospital. And he later invented the artificial heart.

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DQQlv TIL that the wreck of the Dutch East India Company ship Batavia lead to a 30-day voyage to find fresh water, a massacre, executions, and multiple battles over a makeshift limestone fort.
4kRna TIL that sumo wrestlers, despite eating 10,000+ calories daily, have very little visceral fat thanks to their training which is so intense they can lose over 10 pounds of sweat in a single workout.
v1Jo8 TIL that Ronald Reagan was so indelibly type-cast as the 'great loser' in films that when Jack Warner, movie magnate and his longtime employer, was first apprised of the actor's ambition to run for Governor of California, he protested: "No, Jimmy Stewart for Governor. Ronald Reagan for Best Friend."
BBOk TIL creativity has been linked to depression, anxiety, and “madness”, with writers being 121% more likely to suffer from bipolar depression than the general population and 50% more likely to kill themselves.
OGan4 TIL just like in the Tarantino film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, Sharon Tate really did have a habit of going barefoot in Los Angeles. When she went to restaurants with a "No Shoes, No Service" rule, she would frequently put rubber bands around her ankles to pretend that she was wearing sandals.