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TIL Thomas Paine was condemned to be guillotined in the French Revolution. He survived because the prison officers marked the wrong side of his cell door by mistake, and didn’t notice when it was closed

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6ExBm TIL Candles have “memories”- if candles are not allowed to burn long enough to reach the edge of their container, it creates a “memory ring” and the candle will never melt past that point creating a tunneling effect.
LQO80 TIL about Aurel Persu's car design. This car, implemented in 1922-1923, was shaped similar to a waterdrop and it had a drag coefficient of 0.28 (same as a modern Porsche Carrera)
negaG TIL Colonizing Venus is not only possible but actually has the potential to be more practical than colonizing Mars
0wJdR TIL the pocket calculator, patented in 1967, was one of the earliest uses of rechargable batteries. One of the creators, Jerry Merryman, saw it not just as a pocket calculator, but as an "electionic revolution," bringing buttons, thermal printing, and rechargable batteries to the forefront.
GjJ4 TIL There is a long-term care facility in the Netherlands that allows college students to stay for free in exchange for 30 hours of volunteer per month. When students come home from a class, concert, or party, they share those experiences with their elderly neighbors, some of whom are over 90