› added 3 years ago

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TIL in 1947 Raytheon built the first commercially available microwave oven. It weighed 750 pounds, was water-cooled and cost about US$5,000 ($61,000 in 2021 dollars).

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bnRN TIL During the Cold War, America was inspired to build a more efficient interstate system as a way to provide a speedy evacuation route in the event of nuclear war.
KO0g4 TIL one of the reasons why the girls that took the Cottingley Fairies photos did not originally state they were fake was because Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed them to be real, and they did not wish to embarrass him. To the day they died, both girls insisted they had really seen fairies.
16OeV TIL that the rivalry between the neighboring cities of Minneapolis and St Paul was once so strong that during the 1890 US Census, each city began arresting or kidnapping the other's census takers in order to curb their rival's population.
d8epj TIL that the submarine resembling a Lotus Espirit, from the Bond film The Spy who Loved Me, went unclaimed for 10 years in a prepaid storage unit. When its lease ran out, a buyer bought the unit for less than $100, including the submarine. In 2013, the submarine was sold at auction for £550,000.
nWNwW TIL in ancient Babylon, they worshiped the god Marduk via his statue. Enemy rulers who defeated Babylon would often take the statue. All five kings known to have taken the statue of Marduk from Babylon died violently at the hands of their own family members