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TIL: Musical satirist Tom Lehrer quit his career after Henry Kissenger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, saying "When Kissinger won the Nobel peace prize, satire died"

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

PYElE TIL that a Louisiana senator proposed the “American Hippo Bill” which would have brought Hippos from Africa to get rid of a invasive species and solve a meat shortage in the United States. The bill nearly passed.
AJrg TIL the longest surgery to date was a 96-hour marathon to remove a 300-lb ovarian cyst from a 600-lb woman. Simply hacking it out would have killed her, so the surgeon gradually drained fluid from the cyst over the course of 4 days, shrinking it to 100 lb. and allowing for a successful removal.
v1Ykx TIL A satellite launched in 1978, and thought to be shutdown in 1997, was actually discovered in 2008 still be fully operational with plenty of fuel. Through efforts of crowd funding and approval from NASA, a group successfully established contact and fired the engines for the first time since 1987
xVKd0 TIL In 2010, Andriej Ivanov, went to a bridge in Ufa, Russia to commit suicide. When he arrived there he saw Maria Petrova, climbing over the railing to attempt suicide. He stopped her from killing herself, and they later fell in love and planned on getting married.
ADxBn TIL about the HMS Victory, the oldest naval ship still in commission. Commissioned in 1778, it has 242 years of service in the Royal Navy.