› added 4 years ago

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TIL A solar filtered telescope with a magnification of 50x to 100x is needed to be able to see the transit of Venus across the sun. Binoculars with 7x magnification can also project an image that shows Venus as a very tiny black dot on the disc of the sun

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via reddit.com

DpeD TIL Kurt Vonnegut tried to sue a Tobacco company because the packaging promised to kill him and he was 83 years old and they had not fulfilled this promise yet.
M71GW TIL that the manta ray has the biggest brain and by far the biggest brain-to-mass ratio of any fish and is one of the few animals in the world that may pass the "mirror test" for self-recognition.
a8gAJ TIL that in 2011 a man in Egpyt named his daughter Facebook. He chose the name to "to express his joy at the achievements made by the January 25 youth," who organized protests with social media, starting that day, which led to the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, after 30 years in power.
8aMRV TIL that in the 1920s banks regulated how women could dress because a mother complained that her son did business with a woman who was 'illegally attractive'
nemgW TIL In 2006, China slaughtered 50,000 dogs after three people died of rabies. Dogs being walked were seized from their owners and beaten to death on the spot. Owners were offered 63 cents per animal to kill their own dogs before the beating teams were sent in.