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TIL there is an island in Ethiopia where Christian Ethiopians claim to have kept the Ark of Covenant for thousands of years. It is watched over by a single man with no name known as the "Guardian" and no woman are allowed on the island for fear of "stirring the passions" of the virgins on the island

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v1NW8 TIL the Turkish Straits crisis was an opening salvo of the Cold War, as the Soviet Union tried to take over two key channels in order to control Black Sea naval traffic. Stalin threatened to invade Turkey from the Balkans, prompting the Truman Doctrine of capitalist aid that put the country in NATO
awA79 TIL Mr. Rogers had a very distinct way of speaking to children to make sure ideas were communicated clearly. His production team fondly called it “Freddish”.
BlnL TIL ancient Egyptians had a pregnancy test where potentially pregnant women peed on barley and wheat seeds. Plant growth indicated pregnancy: Barley for boy; wheat for woman. Later tests show urine of pregnant women does cause plant growth 70% of the time, while urine of non-pregnant does not.
nWDyG TIL about Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang, who was murdered in the street by members of a government death squad because she had criticized human rights abuses in the country.
D1XGg TIL in 1800s, freed African-American slaves were helped to migrate to Liberia to escape oppression into a country of their very own, where they immediately established an apartheid upon their native African cousins, treating them the same way they were treated by their white oppressors.