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TIL Chinese director Jia Zhangke has been praised as "the most important filmmaker working in the world today." Jia's status in China rose when he was allowed to direct his fourth feature film, The World, with state approval. His first short film was a documentary on tourists in Tiananmen Square

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D1E9p TIL that the word Antarctic just mean "opposite of the arctic."
ADB44 TIL the coelacanth, a prehistoric lobed-finned fish, was believed to have become extinct in the Late Cretaceous Era 66 millions years ago, until they were rediscovered extant off the coast of South Africa in 1938.
ADe4B TIL that George Orwell suffered damage to his vocal cords after he was shot by a sniper whilst fighting during the Spanish Civil War in 1937
69Wjm TIL The box that shows the score/time on screen during sports games was first used in England in 1992. The US started using it during the 1994 FIFA World Cup and it's been a fixture ever since. Before then, the score and time was only shown on screen sporadically.
7rZjP TIL that while scientists were analyzing prehistoric worms recovered from permafrost, two 40,000 year old nematodes 'revived' and began moving and eating, making them the oldest multi-cellular life alive on Earth.