› added 2 months ago

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TIL Fire doesn't actually ignite materials, it just makes them reach their self combustion temperature

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R5D07 TIL Pythagoras was supposedly the first person to call the heavens, the cosmos, for in his eyes, this celestial ocean embodied perfection, and was intricately adorned with infinite beauty and animated life. And he was also the first to call himself a philosopher. In fact, he coined the term.
VMy8G TIL in 1997 a series of Ponzi schemes run by the Albanian government collapsed. 2/3rds of the citizenry were invested. This lead to mass protests. And the formation of gangs, who took control of entire cities. These gangs siezed weapons from military bases, and started a full blown civil war.
4d4b TIL in January 1972, Ariel Sharon decided 3,000 Bedouin were in the way of a massive military exercise he wanted to conduct. So he summarily expelled two tribes from their homes, during a deep winter spell. At least 40 people died, mostly babies, children and the elderly.
raXW TIL when Titanic went down, its shipping company stopped the crew’s pay but charged families the freight costs of shipping the bodies back. Most couldn’t afford it, which is why there are so many memorials rather than graves for the more than 500 crewmen from Southampton who died aboard the ship.
9wkyB TIL that Canadian soldiers during WW1 were widely known for their sheer brutality and apparent enthusiasm to conduct trench raids, the most violent aspect of the war