› added 2 years ago

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TIL the first and last Australian torchbearers for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games were Nova Peris & Cathy Freeman, who are both Aboriginal women, both Olympic gold medalists, both holders of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) and were both previously awarded Young Australian of the Year.

697kJ TIL two songs sung by women (Manic Monday and Nothing Compares to You) reached the top 2 of the Billboard 100 in the mid 80s/early 90s. However, they were both written by a man named Prince Rogers Nelson, who went by the mononym Prince professionally.
peZe TIL that in 2000 Netflix proposed that Blockbuster should use Netflix as its online service and Blockbuster laughed them out of the office
oXOr TIL on September 1, 1755 during a religious holiday, one of the most powerful earthquakes in history destroyed nearly every church in Lisbon leaving the red light district virtually undamaged.
wmko TIL that the term “Shotgunning” marijuana came from soldiers in Vietnam. Troops would commonly empty a shotgun, stick a smoking bowl in the chamber, and blow into it. Other soldiers would inhale the smoke coming out the tip of the barrel, passing the shotgun around.
XE1bj TIL of Valentin Dikul - a soviet circus performer who broke his back in an accident when he was 15 and was told by doctors he’d never walk again. He then designed his own training system, fully recovered and performed amazing feats of strength in the future e.g., back squatted 450kg/990lbs at 60 yo.