› added 5 years ago

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TIL of Xie Jianshun, a Taiwanese soldier who was discovered to be intersex. When the doctors examined him they concluded that his male gonad tissue was deteriorating and decided it was for the best that he undergo sex reasignment surgery. The transition was then imposed on Xie against his wishes.

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KY89B TIL that the genetic traits that helped people survive the Black Death in the 14th century are linked to autoimmune diseases like Crohn's disease today, showing how a historical pandemic shaped the evolution of human immunity genes.
8R8b TIL that while high profile scientists such as Carl Sagan have advocated the transmission of messages into outer space, Stephen Hawking has warned against it, suggesting that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and then move on.
7XNL TIL in 2008, a New Mexico man tried to stage his suicide to look like a murder by tying the gun to helium-filled balloons. The lead agent solved the “murder” when others pointed out the same thing happened in an episode of CSI.
J798 TIL EVE Online is the only MMO that features an officially recognised player-elected council that is flown twice a year to Reykjavik to meet with the game developers to discuss the ideas and concerns of the player base.
6mr7 TIL that The Shawshank Redemption’s director and writer, Frank Darabont, was offered $2.5 million from Rob Reiner to let him write and direct it instead, and cast Tom Cruise as Andy and Harrison Ford as Red. Darabont refused, saying that this was his “chance to do something really great.”