› added 13 years ago

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TIL 78-year-old Dashrath Manjhi in India spent 22 years carving a 1km road through rocky hills, using only a hammer and chisel, to allow people of his isolated village easy access to the nearest town doctor.

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0wlWj TIL Current theory is Venus initially spun anticlockwise. In a way, still does, but upside down. It flipped its axis 180 degrees at some point. Theory: Sun's gravitational pull on Venus' atmosphere caused strong atmospheric tides that combined w/ friction between Venus' mantle and core, flipping it.
45Dw TIL that in 1973, the CIA launched a covert operation that overthrew Chile’s longstanding democratic government and replaced it with a military dictatorship rife with human rights violations.
p8VLA TIL Unabomber Ted Kaczynski said, in a letter, that he would stop the killing if his manifesto were printed. The Washington Post printed the 35,000 word essay, at which point Kaczynski's brother recognized the writing style and turned him in.
oRgrr TIL Spiders can fly using electricity in the air (a process called ballooning). They can release silk threads that catch an electric field, which then interacts with the Earth's electric field, providing lift and propulsion. This allows them to travel long distances, even across oceans.
l7XZG TIL James Hepburn was the third husband of Mary Queen of Scots. He fled to Denmark to escape arrest, but he was imprisoned in Malmo castle. Years after his death, it was found the sea air preserved his body, and his corpse put on display in a museum.