› added 11 years ago

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TIL of Melvin Dummar, who in 1976, claimed a man left an envelope containing Howard Hughes’ will on the desk of the gas station he managed. Dummar was named in it and stood to inherit $145 million. No other will was ever found.

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9dxX TIL the first known robot was created around 400-350 BC and was a steam powered “pigeon” that was able to fly about 200 meters before it ran out of steam
X0a7j TIL when researchers removed eyebrows from pictures of familiar faces, it reduced the chances of recognition substantially, and significantly more than removing the eyes themselves.
NXw06 TIL in mid-1843, writer Charles Dickens began to suffer from financial problems, and matters worsened when his publishers threatened to reduce his monthly income. To prevent this, Dickens’ spent 6 weeks obsessively writing a novella. The result? “A Christmas Carol” - which sold out in 3 days.
kOvn1 TIL there are 45 genes which the human species has likely 'stolen' from other species, such as worms, fruit flies and bacteria. They have not simply been passed on from our primitive ancestors. Instead they have jumped directly into the human genome in the last couple of million years.
bDN0 TIL NASA had an accident while testing spacesuits for the Apollo moon missions, and caught it on camera. The test subject was accidentally depressurized while in a vacuum chamber, and lost consciousness and experienced his own spit boiling. The team took nearly a minute to save him from the chamber.