› added 7 years ago

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TIL in 1974 Egypt issued a passport to Pharaoh Ramses II. He died more than 3,000 years ago, but his mummified body needed a passport to fly to Paris for some repairs. On that special Egyptian passport, the pharaoh’s occupation was listed as "King (deceased)."

Rd69 TIL the Soviet government advised those working on the Chernobyl disaster to drink half a glass of vodka for every two hours in Chernobyl. The radiation was supposed to accumulate in the thyroid glands and the vodka was thought to help clean out the radiation.
OGno6 TIL that Harper Goff designed much of the original Disneyland, sets for classic films (Casablanca, Captain Blood, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory), and the submarines in Fantastic Voyage and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Captain Nemo’s baroque Nautilus helped inspire the Steampunk movement.
opBA TIL there is a mineral called “Cummingtonite” named after its place of discovery: Cummington, Massachusetts
GV65 TIL that the Dalai Lama searches & selects a Panchen Lama - the person responsible for finding the reincarnated Dalai Lama. The Panchen Lama was found in 1995, aged 6, and was subsequently kidnapped by the Chinese Government, replaced with a boy of their choosing, and never seen again.
KOLna TIL that the 'Swastika' was a symbol of well-being and harmony used by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains until of course anti-Semitic nationalist groups (P.S. Nazis) decided to culturally appropriated it to an Aryan symbol to boost a sense of ancient lineage for the Germanic people.