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TIL Indiana Jones may have been inspired by American political scientist William Montgomery McGovern, who by age 30 had already explored the Amazon and braved uncharted regions of the Himalayas, survived revolution in Mexico, studied at Oxford and become a Buddhist priest in a Japanese monastery.

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v8GD TIL that a Swedish man survived for two months in a car that had been snowed over. He ate only snow, and survived due a “igloo effect”.
QJ8bk TIL that some Christian denominations preach a concept called 'hyper-grace', which argued that Christians don't have to fear or avoid sin, because God has already forgiven not only their past sins, but all their future sins
7m4Z TIL in 1984 Michael Larson was a contestant on Press Your Luck. Using the stop-motion on his VCR, he noticed that the presumed random patterns of the game board weren’t actually random, and memorized the sequences. He won 45 consecutive spins and earned a total of $110,237 in cash and prizes
1aeAW TIL the Great Pyramid of Giza volume is about 2.5 million cubic meters. The construction of the pyramid in 20 years meant placing 800 tons of stone blocks - every day! Since it comprises 2.3 million blocks, construction in 20 years required the placement of over 12 blocks every hour, day and night.
e06nJ TIL Nathaniel Hawthorne was related to a judge named John Hathorne who resided over the Salem Witch Trials. Upon learning of his ancestry, Hawthorne was so horrified that he changed the spelling and pronunciation of his name so as to avoid any connections being made.