› added 11 years ago

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TIL that due to a large amount of polar bears, people in Svalbard (northernmost Norway) are required to carry a rifle outside of settlements as a last resort of self-defense against the animal.

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BEBy TIL In 1974 Egyptologists observed Ramesses II’s mummy’s condition was rapidly deteriorating and flew it to Paris for examination. He was issued an Egyptian passport that listed his occupation as “King (deceased)”. The mummy was received outside Paris, with full military honours befitting a king.
4XB7N TIL about Zell Kravinsky, who donated his kidney to a poor African American man. He calculated the chances of dying from the procedure at 1 in 4,000, and said "to withhold a kidney from someone who would otherwise die means valuing one’s own life at 4,000 times that of a stranger".
OGagL TIL oily rags can catch fire from self combustion including Linseed Oil
L8ZV TIL a Bulgarian man once landed in a hospital after being hit by a car. Breath tests indicated blood-alcohol levels so high that police thought the equipment was broken, because he remained conscious and talked with them, 5 separate lab tests confirmed he had a blood-alcohol content of .914%.
j6Z9j TIL that the work of composer Antonio Vivaldi was almost completely lost until the 20th century, when violinist Fritz Kreisler published one of his own pieces as a fake "Vivaldi". This prompted a major resurgence in academic interest in Vivaldi, and his "Four Seasons" is now especially famous.