› added 12 years ago

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TIL when a airplane crashed in the icy Potomac River, Arland Williams and 5 other survivors fled to the tail section. He was then tossed a lifeline from a helicopter twice and handed it off twice to others more severely injured than himself. He ended up being the only victim to die by drowning.

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5o4n TIL of Alien hand syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes hand movement without the person being aware of what is happening. The afflicted person may reach for objects and manipulate them without wanting to do so, even to the point of having to use the healthy hand to restrain the alien hand.
JYAD1 TIL Before it was declared a public domain in 2016, Warner/Chappell has been collecting an estimated $2 million annually from people who use the "Happy Birthday" song, mainly in creative works like movies and television shows.
x66kk TIL The Welsh engineering firm Taylor & Sons, which was founded in 1875, collapsed after a typo by Companies House in 2009 mistakenly listed them as being wound up, by confusing them with another company, Taylor and Son, that really was failing.
gMBxb TIL radioactivity was discovered accidentally due to bad weather. H. Becquerel stopped his experiments on uranium that required sunlight in an overcast day and put uranium crystals and photographic plates away in a drawer. When he opened the drawer, he discovered the radioactive nature of uranium.
GK97 TIL that after the bombing of Hiroshima, there were “ant-walking alligators” that the survivors saw everywhere, men and women who “were now eyeless and faceless — with their heads transformed into blackened alligator hides displaying red holes, indicating mouths.”