› added 10 years ago

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TIL there have been an estimated 638 attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro by the United States, including poisoned cigars, infected scuba equipment, a pen rigged with a hypodermic needle containing poison, etc. He stated “if surviving assassination attempts was an Olympic event, I’d win gold”

7repr TIL ships that were constructed before 1945 are the primary source of steel that is not contaminated with radioactive nuclides. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki along with nuclear tests and disasters have polluted the atmospheric air that is being used for the steel production.
ep5E4 TIL that bottlenose dolphins are one of the few species, along with apes and humans, that have the ability to recognise themselves in a mirror, this is considered a mark of great intelligence and self awareness. Moreover, dolphins are among the few animals that have been documented using tools.
6EYjY TIL: Diem, the US-backed Vietnamese president, got 605,025 votes from 450,000 voters in Saigon in 1955
BgrAx Today I learned that in 1916, Cajuns were prevented from speaking the French language in schools, and that in 1921, the Louisiana constitution only authorized the use of English. Because of the loss of the French language, Cajun Boomers are sometimes called the "lost generation"
9YQAm TIL the first Soviet probe sent to Mars' moon Phobos failed due to user error. While the probe was still on its way to Mars, an impatient technician who didn't want to wait for his code to be proofread unintentionally sent a command to the probe to shut down and there was no way to turn it back on.