› added 6 years ago

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TIL that the Soviet gold medalist Elena Mukhina was forced back to practice with an unhealed broken leg, which didn't give her enough power to do a flip and broke her neck on the mat making her quadriplegic for life in 1980. After the accident she said "Thank God I don't have to go to the Olympics".

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BrVRD TIL that there’s a “dead spot” in the Black Sea where scientists have found ships as old as 1200 years preserved well enough to see chisel marks from original builder.
xVO71 TIL that in 1980 a drilling rig in Lake Peigneur drilled into a mine underneath the lake causing the lake to drain, a connecting canal to flow backward, the highest waterfall in LA, and 400-foot geysers. Eleven barges, the drilling rig, one tugboat, and 65 acres were destroyed.
wLOyP TIL in 1913, Gamblers playing Roulette lost Millions of Dollars betting on Red as the Roulette Ball hit Black 26 times in a row. The incident caused outrage as players continued to increase their wagers on Red, believing another Black outcome couldn't happen. The odds of 26 Black = 1 in 136,000,000
epm6g TIL that 38% of the world's cocoa beans to make chocolate is produced in one country - Côte d'Ivoire. Cocoa accounts for 40% of this African nation's income from exports
E1kY7 TIL that Bill Stone, one of the last five surviving WWI veterans, made multiple separate trips to rescue 1,000 men at Dunkirk although the first trip was "the worst experience of his life." His motto in life was "keep going." He died at age 108.