› added 12 years ago

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TIL: In 1875, James Wickham brought whales to Great Salt Lake. He had two 35-foot Australian whales shipped to Great Salt Lake (by boat to San Francisco and then by rail to Salt Lake City) wherein he released them. Off they swam, never to be seen again!

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via reddit.com

vPvmB TIL Barry Manilow thought "Last Christmas" by Wham! was so similar to his 1978 hit "Can't Smile Without You" that he took George Michael to court. But the case was thrown out after a musicologist presented 60-odd songs from the past century that had a comparable chord sequence and melody.
QNLD9 TIL In Johannesburg, Ponte City a 54 story Apartheid era Luxury Apartment Complex fell to violent gangs and had a trash pile 14 stories tall. People used the 54 story balconies to commit suicide by jumping into the Courtyard
rR0kM TIL the Soviet Union made a Space Shuttle remarkable like the US’s counterpart
eBGb TIL when Astronaut Ed Mitchell was asked what it’s like to stand on the moon, he said: “From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.’
kJ1Ee TIL that during the 'leech craze' of the 1800s, leech collectors (who were usually women) would wade into ponds with their skirts raised to attract the leeches to their bare legs. Some used animals—such as horses that were too old to work—instead of their own bodies to catch the leeches