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173

TIL that the founder of Israel was an Atheist

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DQxjJ TIL that in the 2000 Paralympic games, Spain was stripped of its intellectually disabled basketball gold medal after it was revealed that only 2 of its 12 basketball players actually had an IQ below 75, the requirement to qualify. Intellectual disability would be abandoned until the 2012 Paralympics
EJ70 TIL that the story of Thomas Edison electrocuting an elephant as part of the War of Currents is a myth. The elephant was killed as part of an unrelated Coney Island stunt, and Edison’s name is only associated because Edison-brand film was used to record the elephant’s death.
EAGP TIL under southern Africa there’s an anomaly where the Earth’s magnetic field is reversed, which might be a sign that the entire planet’s magnetic field might reverse again
rnV1 TIL in 2006, Richard Branson pledged $3bn to fight global warming over 10 years. As of 2014, he has spent less than 1/10 of that.
NX89b TIL: Gary Dahl, who invented the pet rock in 1975 came up with the idea at a bar with friends as a joke. He later began selling rocks. Within 2 months he was selling 10k rocks a day within half a year he was a millionaire. His later ideas of "Sand Breeding Kits" and "Red China Dirt" failed.