› added 6 years ago

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TIL that a Polish environmental charity put a SIM card in a GPS tracker to follow the migratory pattern of a white stork. They lost track of the stork and later received a phone bill for $2,700; someone in Sudan had taken the SIM from the tracker and made over 20 hours of calls.

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DoeP TIL: Mary Bowser, a freed slave with a Quaker education and a photographic memory, posed as a slow witted slave to spy for the Union in Confederate president Jefferson Davis’ household through much of the Civil War.
ZpLWo TIL the adult brain still has neural progenitor cells which produce new nerve cells. They were thought to vanish after childhood. scientists found them in people aged 20–78. This means we keep making brain cells for life. Its a possible breakthrough for treating neurodegenerative diseases.
NXQKJ TIL about the birthday effect, a statistical phenomenon where an individual's likelihood of death appears to increase on or close to their birthday. It has been suggested that it is a statistics anomaly, but the birthday effect has been seen in studies that control for known anomalies.
xv0k TIL There is a statue of George Washington in Britain that sits on top of soil imported from Virginia, due to Washington exclaiming “I will never set foot in Britain again!”
pYe4b TIL Duke Kahanamoku was not only a 5-time Olympic medalist in swimming, but also a pioneering surfer who is credited with popularizing surfing around the world. Later in life Kahanamoku was elected to serve as the Sheriff of Honolulu, Hawaii from 1932 to 1961.