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TIL Dirk Obbink got a MacArthur genius grant for reassembling papyrus scrolls carbonized by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, but then got fired from Oxford Uni for allegedly fraudulently selling biblical papyri belonging to the Egypt Exploration Society as his own for millions of dollars.

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via reddit.com

6EdpZ TIL that when Monarch Butterflies migrate south over Lake Superior, they steer widely around something invisible for no apparent reason. It’s widely believed that they’re steering around a mountain which no longer exists, and is just a memory that’s still passed on to modern generations
awMyy TIL that North Korea and Cuba are the only places you can't buy Coca-Cola.
nxa9 TIL that a theoretical physicist is in between between “Monkey-Sex Observer” and “Vermin Handler” for the worst jobs in Science.
x6Bko TIL Michael Jackson only agreed to 10 shows for his "This is It" concert series but his managers went ahead and increased it to 50. His father Joe Jackson was concerned from the beginning that promoters were pushing Michael too hard, resulting in his death
LkMW9 TIL that the Walls of Benin were the largest man-made structure on earth, with a length of 16,000 km (four times longer than the Wall of China), until their destruction by the British in 1897. Building it consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops.