› added 11 years ago

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TIL Aborigines were classed as wildlife, not humans, by the Australian government until 1967!

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OPeg TIL Richard McNair escaped 3 times from 3 different prisons. Hours after his third escape this time by mailing himself out in a crate, he was stopped by police. He managed to convince them he was out jogging and in town to help on a post-Katrina roofing project. (Video in comments)
Y7paA TIL the last independent ancient Greek state was in India
loYPA TIL a mother black lace-weaver spider will drum on her web to call her babies to come and eat her alive.
D1Agj TIL Japanese train drivers and conductors "point and call" at all important signs and warnings. As it turns out, research conducted in 1994 by the Railway Technical Research Institute found that the combination of pointing and calling reduced mistakes by almost 85 percent.
Zdpa TIL the sternocleidomastoid (neck muscle) is often included by creature designers to alien characters to make them seem more attractive and familiar as the muscle is a uniquely mammalian feature. C-3PO has them in the form of pistons on his neck, and so do the good guys in Star Trek.