› added 9 years ago

77

TIL We only know of the story Beowulf from a single manuscript, at one point nearly lost in a fire.

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wopw1 TIL there were plans to raise the Titanic by using liquid nitrogen to turn it into an iceberg. Alternate plans included filling it with vaseline or ping pong balls. None came to fruition.
abXN TIL that from its discovery in 1947 until 2007, there were only 14 confirmed human cases of Zika infection worldwide. In the past two years there have been an estimated 1.5 million infections in Brazil alone.
WkQZA TIL that a man with a gun chased a naked Babe Ruth out of a hotel in Detroit, after Ruth slept with his wife.
yo5X TIL the indigenous people of Bougainville Island successfully carried out the world’s first “eco-revolution” closing down one of the world’s largest mines, driving away private security and in turn the Papua New Guinea and Australian army using home-made weapons and running vehicles on coconut oil
oa4Y TIL that because a country is limited to four female competitors across seven weight classes at the Olympics, the Chinese qualification competition is more competitive than the Olympics itself