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265

TIL that Sacha Baron Cohen is lined up to play Freddie Mercury in a movie about his life. I am elated. (1:28 long video)

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NeJP TIL There is a road safety system called “Shared space” that relies on psychology. Traffic signs, kerbs and road markings are removed from town centers. Without markings drivers are more cautious and aware of their surroundings and thus slow down and pay more attention.
DDNv TIL that the Gretzky brothers hold the NHL record for the most goals scored by a set of brothers, with a total of 2,861. Of which Wayne scored 2,857 and Brent scored 4.
LL09 TIL before the Emancipation Proclamation, Union commanders effectively “freed” Southern slaves they encountered by declaring them “contraband” and seizing them. The slaves were employed as non-combat laborers and given a wage and rations, and many later enlisted as soldiers in the Union Army.
jNa1p TIL that the Yazidi minority in Northern Iraq have survived 72 attempted genocides
0wwVy TIL that 12,000 bears are farmed for their bile in Asia which is used in traditional Chinese medicine and generates $2bn per year. Farming always involves surgery on the bears to insert a catheter or to cut a hole through the abdomen by which the bile leaks. Bear bile has no medicinal effect.