› added 6 years ago

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TIL the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) was founded in 1902 when five men believed they had secured a valuable corundum mine. They later realized their mineral holding was entirely anorthosite, a mineral devoid of corundum and useless to their venture.

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via reddit.com

KYYya TIL that fortune-telling is illegal in New York.
ebnD TIL Charlton Heston narrated for highly classified military and Department of Energy instructional films, particularly relating to nuclear weapons. For six years, he held the nation’s highest security clearance.
LQ6Z9 TIL that in 1966, Frank Sinatra threw a phone at Frederick Weisman, breaking his skull and putting him in critical condition for 48 hours. Weisman had asked Sinatra and his friends to quiet down.
Z8x6D TIL in the early 80s there was a wheat field in downtown NYC
a8o49 TIL a Canadian doctor named Norman Bethune basically invented mobile blood transfusions during the Spanish Civil War, then went to China and became a hero there for bringing frontline medical care to rural areas