› added 1 year ago

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TIL for 50+ years, Australian children in the outback attended school via shortwave radio and sent homework via air mail due to the distance between homes. "Schools of the Air" were many children's first social experience outside their families; its quality equaled or surpassed traditional schools'.

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DOMv TIL James Earl Jones was a functional mute for 8 years due to a stutter he had developed as a child. He credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, with helping him end his silence. Crouch believed forced public speaking would help Jones gain confidence and insisted he recite a poem every day.
AZRo TIL Medal of Honor recipient Roy Benavidez was shot 7 times, had 28 shrapnel holes in him, was clubbed by a rifle, slashed by a bayonet twice before he left the battlefield. When mistakenly identified as dead, he spit blood in the medic’s face
9YYkQ TIL: Oregon is one of two states where drivers aren't allowed to pump their own gas.
Z8rnY TIL In a temperate climate, a human body can completely decompose into a skeleton in 3 weeks to several years. If undisturbed by animals, acids in fertile soils can dissolve human skeletons in around 20 years. In sand or neutral soil, the skeleton can remain intact for hundreds of years.
5V9aD TIL that the lily plant is incredibly toxic to cats and if they ingest any part of it they have an almost 100% mortality rate. Even the flower's pollen getting in their fur or water can kill cats.