› added 6 years ago

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TIL of Tim Macartney-Snape, one of the first mountaineers to climb Everest without oxygen. Afterwards someone said to him "You didn't climb Everest. You only climbed the top part." So he went down to the beach in India and re-did the whole thing.

Wnwo TIL A scientist named Carl Djerassi not only developed the birth control pill, but also wrote over 1200 papers on different subjects, and wrote one of the first artificial intelligence programs..in 1965. A program called DENDRAL, which could automatically discover unknown forms of medications.
VMp6m TIL Mexican Cola-Cola is more popular in the US because it is considered more 'natural tasting.' A scientific analysis found no sucrose (standard sugar), but found fructose and glucose similar to other soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup.
0b7y TIL Pierlucio Tinazzi, an Italian security guard, is credited with saving 10 people from the Mount Blanc Inferno. He donned breathing equipment and drove into the tunnel on his motorcycle. It was later found melted into the pavement after he dragged an unconscious truck driver behind a fire door.
YYlr TIL that submarines were originally detected by sensing the way they distort the Earth’s magnetic field. Now submarines have copper wires (with 4,000 amps running through them) wrapping the hull to demagnetize the ship to avoid detection.
9w5Rr TIL that in Spain, there is only one town whose name begins with the letter W, being the town of Wamba (Vamba), named in honor of the Gothic king of the same name postumatically.