› added 1 month ago

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TIL that in deep mine voids, slabs of rocks weighing hundreds of pounds can spontaneously "explode" off the walls from the pressure above until the stresses adjust.

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8aMXK TIL about John Edmonstone, an ex-slave born on a plantation in Guiana who taught Charles Darwin taxidermy in Scotland. Darwin used taxidermy to preserve different specimens of finches he found on Galapagos, discovering 12 distinct species and used them as an example in his theory of evolution.
WkpVX TIL of the Moriori, a Pacifist people who, when being wiped out by a neighbouring Polynesian tribe, decided that their non-violent beliefs were more important than their own survival.
nWxEb TIL that lettuce is a member of the sunflower family.
a8DaN TIL Edith Piaf's team and peers originally deemed "La Vie en Rose" weaker than other songs she was working in, and she set it aside for a year before changing her mind and deciding to record it, and then it became the song that made her internationally famous.
89GV TIL in 1978 author of a Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess, wrote ‘1985’ as a tribute to Orwell, in it he depicts the rise of Islam with London having a huge abundance Mosques.