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TIL: Due to widespread unemployment and car ownership in the US in the 1910s, an Uber-like taxi service started called Jitney where individuals used their person cars to drive people to their destination for money

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LQV5p TIL the Drake Equation is a scientific formula to estimate how many intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations within our galaxy are within radio communications range of Earth. Formulated in 1961, the original estimate was a minimum of 20.
9PBp TIL lead shot used to be manufactured in tall “shot towers,” where molten lead was run through a sieve and dropped from a great height to produce perfectly spherical balls. Many of these towers still exist.
oRN6Y TIL In 1971, the Guinness World Records listed Clara as the "Most Indefatigable Cruise Passenger". For 14 years, she lived on RMS Caronia, which cost her $396 in daily fare. Without accounting for inflation, Cunard Line received $4 million from her in tickets.
VBQo8 TIL that Roald Dahl wrote a short story that predicted story-writing machines. In it, most authors end up signing contracts to let the machines write stories in their names, while a handful of authors struggle on. He ends by saying, “Give us strength, Oh Lord, to let our children starve.”
l7oG1 TIL that overuse of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) can cause spinal cord injury by inactivating vitamin B12. Numbness, weakness, and even sexual dysfunction are common symptoms. Taking B12 preventatively before nitrous use is ineffective as no matter how much B12 is present, it is all ‘turned off’.