› added 5 months ago

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TIL weeks before Marlon Brando’s death, three newcomers gained control of his estate. They reclaimed assets promised to friends, sold his island, commercialized his image, and shut down fan run pages. Under their care his eldest son had even couldn’t afford the funeral.

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jNwZj TIL Japanese, but not European, honeybees can “slow cook” giant hornets to death, when they attack the hive. They do this by forming a giant swarm, a “bee ball”, around the hornet and vibrate their flight muscles to create heat. They warm the area up to 116°F, slowly “cooking” the hornet to death.
KOGEQ TIL that the sculptor of Mount Rushmore intended to include, near the presidents, a written history of the United States. Called "The Entablature", it was to have shown contributions by Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln to the first 150 years of American History.
d89YE TIL The Andromeda Galaxy is the most distant object you can see with your naked eyes, two million light years away. It is visible as a dim, fuzzy star from a dark sky site. With binoculars you can clearly see the elliptical shape of the galaxy
J15Bj TIL that bananas are naturally radioactive due to potassium-40, and the small radiation they emit is so well-known that scientists use the "banana equivalent dose" as unit to explain everyday radiation exposure. Looks like bananas are used for scale in more than one way!
rrPy TIL During the battle of Stalingrad, Mikhail Panikakha had only two Molotov cocktails left after helping repel German attacks. He raised the one to throw when a bullet hit it, setting him on fire. He then took the last bottle, jumped out of the trench and hit the nearest German tank with it.