› added 5 months ago

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TIL about the eclipse of Thales, the first predicted eclipse and the earliest event we are date certain of in 595 BCE

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ADJkl TIL about Cargo Cults, Melanesian groups that attempted to recreate the magic that was "cargo drops". When the U.S military occupied Pacific islands during WW2, the islanders witnessed the soldiers receive goods from the sky, and thought it was the result of magic rituals performed by the soldiers.
E1Dp0 TIL Alvin Straight, a 73 year old, almost blind, man drove his John Deere lawn mower 240 miles to his brothers house after being denied his drivers license due to his eyesight.
VxpZ TIL In the late 1980s, young punk rockers in Cuba, known as “los frikis,” were so fed-up with the stifling life of the communist regime that they chose to inject themselves with the AIDS virus so they could live in a sanitarium and be free from constant police-state harassment.
GYOE1 TIL John Kluge, as Chairman of MetroMedia, was the Richest Man in America in 1987. During WW II, the German born Kluge served as an interrogator at a secret military base that processed high ranking Germans, including those who were part of Operation Paper Clip, including Werner Von Braun.
GAkAG TIL: The sportscaster Al Michaels was traded by Disney to NBC for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit