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TIL the Lincoln Highway (1910s) made driving across America easier. However, muddy or flooded roads were expected and drivers needed camping gear. The road guide included tips for each town. E.g. Fish Springs, Utah travelers could "build a sagebrush fire" for a local team to find/rescue them.

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XaK8 TIL that learned helplessness means that if, over the course of your life, you have experienced crushing defeat or pummeling abuse or loss of control, you learn over time there is no escape, and if escape is offered, you will not act – you become a nihilist who trusts futility above optimism.
4XMkN TIL the THX sound from the opening credits of movies has a name
mNXR TIL cats can have pandas in a process known as Xenopregnancy. Nuclei from cells taken from abdominal muscles of giant pandas were transferred to egg cells of rabbits and transferred into the uterus of cat together with cat embryos.
deaK TIL in 1999, Harvard physicist Lene Hau was able to slow down light to 17 meters per second and in 2001, was able to stop light completely.
R7vo9 TIL that NASA has confirmed that the earth is greener than it was 20 years ago due to China's and India's dominates heavy investments in re-plantation.