› added 8 years ago

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TIL in 1907 Lawrence Luellen, a Boston lawyer, was concerned about the spread of germs due to people sharing glasses and dippers in public drinking spaces. He invented the first paper cup, dubbed the Klean Cup. 5 years later he renamed it after a popular line of toys: Dixie Dolls. Thus, Dixie Cups.

M7yKA TIL that lots of famous artists have died in plane crashes, including Glenn Miller when his military plane fell from the sky, Buddy Holly while on an airplane, Patsy Cline who's manager flew in bad weather and John Denver who piloted a home-built aircraft he had recently purchased.
b9Xn4 TIL Ex-President Ronald Reagan occupied the 34th-floor Fox Plaza office building (where parts of "Die Hard" were shot) til 2001, breaking tradition by using a private office over a federal one. When Reagan aides toured the 34th-floor in 1989, it was littered with shells/broken glass from "Die Hard".
XE86E TIL that the pain you feel from chewing on tin foil is called galvanic shock. Aluminum foil and other metals in your mouth have an electrochemical potential difference. Combined with saliva, which produces a wet, salty environment that’s ideal for the transfer of energy, creating a shock of voltage.
PxgV TIL Tania Head faked being a 9/11 survivor and served as President of the WTC Survivors Network
rkmw TIL Luigi Chinetti won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1949 by racing over 23 hours of the race by himself, only letting his co-driver behind the wheel for 20 minutes