› added 4 years ago

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TIL Jane Goodall's father gave her a stuffed chimpanzee named Jubilee as an alternative to a teddy bear. Goodall has said her fondness for this figure started her early love of animals although"My mother's friends were horrified by this toy, thinking it would frighten me and give me nightmares."

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KRVB TIL Bill Gates once released mosquitos at his presentation on malaria, stating “There’s no reason only poor people should have the experience.”
AD6Mn TIL that in medieval times, corpses of sick people were used as catapult ammunition, as a form of biological weapon.
YpXdW TIL while filming ‘The Princess Bride,’ André the Giant said his favorite thing about being on set was that “nobody looked at him strangely or singled him out because of his immense size.”
wLLW1 Because most early rotary engines turned counterclockwise (from the front, clockwise from the pilot's view). The physics of rotating objects resulted in left turns being easier than right turns. That led to standard manoeuvres using left turns. And that resulted in the prime/most experienced pilot sitting with a view out of the left window, once airplanes grew large enough to have side-by-side pilots.
4X9Zb TIL "Antwerp diamond heist" dubbed the "heist of the century". Around $100 million worth loose diamonds, gold, and jewellery were stolen. It took place in Antwerp,Belgium in 2003.Though arrests were made and time was served, most of the diamonds stolen remain unrecovered.