› added 6 years ago

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TIL approximately 80000 Americans who were born in the last 50 years have contracted or will contract cancer as a result of American nuclear tests conducted in Nevada and the Pacific ocean. Soviet tests in Kazakhstan, eastern Russia. French tests in the Pacific and British tests at Christmas Island

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MeB78 TIL it is unknown if Amerigo Vespucci ever learned that the New World would come to be named in his honor by cartographers prior to his death.
X0XM8 TIL about the Three Alls Policy, a campaign that killed 2.7 million people during ww2
lg75 TIL there’s a museum in Massachusetts dedicated to art “too bad to be ignored”. A painting was stolen, and a reward was set at $6.50 (raised to $36.73)
Gadj TIL that after a muti-day free base cocaine bender, Richard Pryor poured 151-proof rum all over himself and lit himself on fire. While ablaze, he ran from his Los Angeles home down Parthenia St., until being subdued by police.
p8W4Z TIL a gentleman in the 1940s observed that the burr seeds that stuck to his clothes and his dog’s fur had a tiny hook structure. On closer inspection, he discovered the hooks were more reliable than a zipper. He developed a company popularly known today as Velcro.