› added 7 months ago

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TIL about The Million Dollar Highway in Colorado. It was built in 1883 as a toll way and operated as such until the 1920s when it was rebuilt. Legend has it that an early traveler was so overcome by vertigo on the steep, winding road that he said he would never travel it again even for a million $.

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wLpj6 TIL about Stank Baker, a man who had been booked to fly on the 1931 Avro Ten Southern Cloud disappearance only to cancel his flight and travel by train instead which saved his life. Because of this, he gained a fear of flying which became justified when he was killed by another flight 19 years later
KO9Dw TIL that Mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, is not a part of our DNA, but instead is a bacteria that developed a symbiotic relationship with cells some 1.7 to 2 billion years ago.
78L1O TIL about the device ADE 651, which was described by its maker, ATSC, as being powered through the user's static electricity to detect explosives and drugs thanks to "programmed substance detection cards". It was bought in Iraq, Pakistan and the USA before the fraud was discovered
Oobjg TIL that Bob Marley’s father was not actually a captain or heroic war icon, but instead was described as “neurotic (and) incontinent.” He likely worked in laundry or lavatory cleaning before joining the British MP in Lagos, Nigeria.
X49R TIL the Bill Gates Foundation bought 500,000 shares of Monsanto. They still own the shares and won’t answer questions when the topic is raised.