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TIL Preston Sturges sold the story of his debut as a director, The Great McGinty (1940) to Paramount pictures for $10, on the condition that he would direct his own screenplay for the first time.

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awnB9 TIL that Marco Polo makes no mention of the Great Wall in any of his writings on China, which some people believe proves he never visited the country. This type of conclusion is called “argument from silence” and is a common logical fallacy.
GAv8G TIL sci fi author Jack Williamson coined the terms terraforming (1942), psionics (1952), and was one of the first people to use the term genetic engineering.
1DAD TIL that Brent and Wayne Gretzky hold the NHL record for most combined points by two brothers; Wayne with 2857 career points and Brent with four.
l7JXA TIL that more men than women are colorblind, not because knowing colors is considered a feminine trait, but because it is a sex-linked gene. Colorblindness is a recessive trait on the X chromosome, so men only need one bad X to be colorblind, whereas women need two.
jNeJv TIL a blood donor will lose around 650 calories by donating 1 pint of blood. That 1 pint of blood could save up to 3 lives.