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TIL that in the 18th century, an experiment was conducted to determine the mass of the Earth using the effects of a mountain's gravitational pull on a pendulum. The results were less than 20% off the real value.

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RKd6 TIL Diamonds are actually fairly common. The reason they are worth so much is because the DeBeers mining group withholds stock to artificially reduce supply.
QNxY6 TIL In the early 17th century, people began to believe plaits were an external symptom of an internal illness. A growing plait was supposed to take the illness "out" of the body, and therefore it was rarely cut off; in addition, the belief that a cut-off plait could avenge itself
5OdR TIL that in 1964 Zambia tried beating the US and the USSR in the space race. They used swings for zero gravity and rolling down a hill in barrels for turbulence training and a catapult to launch the 1,8mx3m rocket to the moon. The afronaut crew consisted of 10 Zambians, one 17y old girl and her cat.
b9RRN TIL That during the cold war Fred Rogers appeared as a guest on a Soviet Television Program called "Good Night Little Ones"
9ww9X TIL that there are twins in British Columbia who are conjoined by the head. Due to them sharing a brain, they can see through each other’s eyes and ‘hear’ each other’s thoughts.