› added 8 months ago

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TIL Robin Lee Graham sailed alone around the world at the age of 16. His 5-year journey started in California, battling storms and loneliness with his cat aboard. He finished his journey in 1970, met his wife in South Africa, wrote a book called Dove, and settled in Montana.

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69oaY TIL that legendary race driver Ken Miles -- played by Christian Bale in "Ford vs. Ferrari" -- designed a race track, but it was so dangerous it closed after only 7 races. During the last meet in December 1957, two drivers were killed and another lost a leg.
8eL4V TIL The Andromeda galaxy is approaching us at 250,000 miles per hour ( 402,000 km/h).
gAQW TIL penguins were found in the arctic, but only from 1936-1949. They were introduced to replace the great auk, which had been hunted to extinction. The penguins survived the conditions well, but were also hunted to extinction. One was beaten to death by a local woman, whom mistook it for a demon.
9Ydkm TIL that a paper centrifuge has been designed by Manu Prakash in 2016 based on spinning toy, whirligig. It can reach 20,000 rotations per minute and can be used to separate plasma from blood and malarial parasites, operate with hands without electricity and costs 20 cents.
WNbB TIL that in the 19th century when Napoleon III invited the King Siam to a dinner, he gave himself Gold Cutlery, his troops Silver & the King of Siam Aluminium. This was no insult but an honour, aluminium was the most valuable metal on the planet. Today, aluminium is $1,800 a ton. Gold is $50 million