› added 4 years ago

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TIL that the reason why the hair on the back of our necks raises when we see something scary or profound is because when humans still had fur, this would make us appear much larger than what we usually are, just like what a cat does. This is called the Piloerection Reflex, or Goosebumps.

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JYD41 TIL during the Battle of the Wilderness, a fistfight between a Union and Confederate soldier caused a ceasefire, as both sides stopped fighting to watch the scuffle. The Union soldier lost and was taken prisoner. The battle then resumed.
Jv8v TIL that Chinese security forces killed a large number of Uyghur dissidents in a July 2014 incident, 96 according to the Chinese and 2,000 according to the Uyghurs, and the Chinese government suppressed any independent reporting of it
rr01 TIL that astrophysicist Carl Sagan and his wife would smuggle books about the history of the Russian Revolution into the USSR so that their colleagues could read them, since recorded history lessons in Russia were actively manipulated by Joseph Stalin at the time.
rNO04 TIL Delta Airlines has a “Parallel Reality Zone” in the Detroit Airport that allows customers to see their personal flight informations AND ONLY THEIR FLIGHT information on the same screen and the same time.
JAdQ TIL of Adrian Schoolcraft, ex NYPD officer who recorded corruption,wrongdoings and police abuse in the NYPD. He submitted it to investigators and ended up reassigned to a desk job, got abducted from his house and thrown in a psychiatric facility against his will and fired. His family got the bill.