› added 9 years ago

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TIL Despite being a Major General, 56, and needing a cane to walk, Theodore Roosevelt Jr was one of the first troops to land at Utah Beach, personally doing a recon mission and directing units onto their objectives under fire. He was both the oldest and highest ranking man to land with first wave.

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YXeW Today I learned that the great composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, claimed to be from the Sirius star system.
VJl0 TIL that 50 to 90 percent of the languages that are spoken today are expected to become extinct by the year 2100.
QNlmk TIL about Termitomyces titanicus, the largest edible mushroom. Despite being common in west african markets, it was unknown to the west until it was first reported in Pegler & Pierce 1980. They made no attempt to explain its late discovery.
jNVVv TIL about Lady Qi, consort of Emperor Gaozu founder of the Han dynasty, whose limbs were chopped off, eyes were gouged out, tongue cut off, ears cut off, made mute, locked in a pigsty and referred to as "human swine" by the Empress Dowager Lü Zhi who was apparently not on very good terms with her
kONOW TIL more people have been to outer space (more than 550) than have successfully summitted Mount K2 (less than 400). K2 or Mount Godwin-Austen is considered to be the most challenging of the 8000’ers.