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TIL radioactive powder from a stolen radiotherapy unit was spread throughout a town in Brazil in 1987 as people were fascinated by its blue glow. They spread the dust in their homes showing it to family and friends, a 6 year old girl ingested some of it. 112,000 people were tested for contamination.

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yewv TIL an officer of the US Navy, James Stockdale, became a POW. To prevent his captors from using him as propaganda, he cut his scalp with razors, beat his face with a stool until he was unrecognizable, and slit his wrists.
9a46 TIL A Canadian lawyer Garry Hoy died in Toronto trying to prove that the glass in the windows of a 24th floor office was unbreakable by throwing himself against it. It was an act he had done twice before. The windows didn’t break but they popped out of the frame and he plunged to his death.
9w6M7 TIL that since 2004, countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE have replaced camel jockeys with robot drones, to prevent children being exploited into riding camels. It also prevented race-fixing, and sharing winnings.
b6b4j TIL that crocodiles and alligators intentionally swallow rocks not just to grind food, but to use them as internal weight belts (called Gastroliths) for diving and to increase their maximum time underwater by nearly 117%.
89Z8 TIL Robert Louis Stevenson’s wife burned his manuscript of “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” because she felt it would ruin his reputation. Over the next three days, the author rewrote the 30,000-word manuscript from memory.