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TIL in 1921 a group of workers in a fertilizer factory stuck dynamite in a 4.5k lbs block of hardened ammonium nitrate to loosen it up. The resulting explosion killed 500 people, destroyed 80% of the surrounding homes and ripped the roofs off of buildings 15 miles away.

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OGB11 TIL The Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal was built to better connect Chicago to the Mississippi River, and was the world’s largest canal at the time. It provided engineers with the necessary experience to help construct the most pivotal infrastructure project in US history - the Panama Canal.
v5wj TIL The doctor who claimed that there was a link between vaccines and autism lost his medical license for fraudulent data produced from a study.
wokd7 TIL when insects shed Theo skin, they secrete compounds to protect themselves from infection as their new exoskeleton hardens. Researchers are investigating these compounds as a source of new antibiotics and immune stimulants.
epWVb TIL that Margaret Chung, the first Chinese-American female physician, "adopted" over 1,500 soldiers. She treated them, cooked for them and gifted them jade Buddha figurines they wore around their necks.
R5rjj TIL that one of the earliest examples of ASCII art appears in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll (1865): Chapter III includes "A Long Tale" in the shape of a mouse's tail.