› added 1 month ago

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TIL about James McGuire VC, an Irishman who received the Victoria Cross (the highest British award) for his "coolness and personal daring" when he risked his life by throwing burning boxes of ammunition into nearby water. He later forfeited the award when he was convicted of stealing a cow.

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PYBkJ TIL that the Brooklyn Dodgers name stems from a nickname given in the 1890s to people who, in a matter of life and death, had to evade railcars speeding down the streets. They were known as trolley dodgers.
VMp5Z TIL that the Earth would have to turn once every 84 minutes or 17 times faster than the current speed in order for humans to be thrown off the planet, when the centrifugal force would be bigger than the force of gravity that holds us "down".
DQ19j TIL A turkish mother that read lecture notes for four years to her blind daughter in law school, has been awarded an honorary degree with the daughter
woxQ1 TIL about “Snotbot,” a drone used by scientists to fly through whale exhalation plumes to gather information about whale health and ecology, DNA, stress and pregnancy hormones, microbiomes, etc.
JY11m TIL approximately 80000 Americans who were born in the last 50 years have contracted or will contract cancer as a result of American nuclear tests conducted in Nevada and the Pacific ocean. Soviet tests in Kazakhstan, eastern Russia. French tests in the Pacific and British tests at Christmas Island