› added 4 years ago

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TIL about a Soviet Air Force lieutenant, Viktor Belenko's defection. He first flew a MiG-25 fighter to Japan in 1976 and gained political asylum in the United States.

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EgJJp TIL that animals and plants can be "cosmopolitan", meaning they are found all over the world. For example, rails are a cosmopolitan family of bird.
17vr TIL that Tolkien himself considered Sam (Samwise Gamgee) the chief hero of “Lord of the Rings”.
8aL0b TIL The only astronomically aligned, full-scale, intact replica Stonehenge in natural stone is Esperance Stonehenge in Australia. It cost about about A$250,000 to build and was recently on the market for A$2.1M.
VLX0 TIL that we don’t lose the majority of heat through our heads. The people that did the test had their subjects not wearing hats, while the rest of their bodies were clothed.
RAE6 TIL that about some of the dose of antidepressants like Prozac and Zoloft are passed unchanged in urine, and have been detected in aquatic animals. This has caused concern, as the drugs are linked to memory issues and more passive behavior in fish, and more aggression in crustaceans.