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TIL women were not the first choice as telephone operators. Prior to September 1, 1878, when a woman named Emma Nutt became the first female operator, boys were the preferred choice. It soon became apparent, however, that boys would insult, curse at, and prank the customers.

R7X8l TIL of the incident when Soviet politician Nikita Khrushchev banged his shoe to protest a pro-human rights speech of a Philippine senator at the UN
4XKnb TIL When casting the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film 'Iron Man', Marvel did not want Robert Downey Jr cast as the title character. The film's director 'would not take no for an answer' as he knew the character lined up perfectly with RDJ's life.
xVxG5 TIL Stanford researchers showed that mealworms can safely consume various types of plastics including toxic additive-containing plastic such as polystyrene with no ill effects. The worms can then be used as a safe, protein-rich feed supplement
OoZ7X TIL When Stephen Colbert was 10 years old, his father, 2 brothers, and 69 others were killed when their plane crashed 5 miles from the runway amid dense fog. The crew failed to pay attention to the plane's altitude because they were busy trying to spot a nearby amusement park through the fog.
DDpj TIL eight of the July 20th, 1944 conspirators to assassinate Hitler were punished so severely, that they were slowly strangled with piano wire and revived multiple times only to be killed again. And all of this was filmed for Hitler to personally view at his leisure.