› added 12 years ago

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TIL: In prehistoric New Zealand, Eagles with 3m wingspans preyed on humans.

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b9RQ TIL Wind turbines can kill bats without impact, they die because their lungs explode from a drop in air pressure.
yVZ9v TIL Despite having the best overall record in MLB in 1981, the Cincinnati Reds did not qualify for the postseason. This was due to a midseason strike which split the season in half and teams that won their division in each half of the season advanced to the playoffs.
J0j8 TIL in 1621 the Dutch hired Japanese mercenaries to murder 40 inhabitants of Bandaneira Island, a lucrative source of nutmeg. Of the 12,000-15,000 residents all but 1,000 were killed or forced to leave the island as the Dutch created a nutmeg monopoly.
9wAlm TIL about Hitomi Soga-Jenkins, a Japanese woman who was abducted to North Korea with her mother in 1978. Her mother disappeared and was never seen again. She was given a Korean name and married an American defector. They had two daughters. The family returned to Japan in 2004 where they live today.
e0r7g TIL Yawning is more contagious among people who are emotionally close. An experiment found family members showed the greatest contagion, in terms of both occurrence of yawning and frequency of yawns, while strangers and acquaintances showed a comparatively longer delay in the yawn response.