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TIL- during the Krakatoa eruptions and resulting tsunamis, a javanese lighthouse keeper refused to leave his post, survived after the lighthouse collapsed, lost his wife and child, and built a makeshift light just a few hours afterward so that ships wouldn't run aground.

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j6GEQ TIL Shortly before Paris was captured by the Nazis in 1940, French engineers cut the lift cables to the Eiffel Tower. German soldiers had to climb the entire tower in order to hoist their flag... which blew away after just few hours. Hitler himself was unable to make the climb when he visited.
N1jJ TIL that when the Paracutin volcano was born, it emerged so quickly that it pushed up the ground beneath people. Within 24 hours, it was 15 stories high, and by the end of the week it was the height of the Great Pyramids.
e0WJE TIL crickets have the largest testes in the world compared to body ratio - at 14% of their weight - b/c they have a LOT of sex. Highly promiscuous female Mormon crickets also FIGHT TO EAT SPERM (spermatophore). The spermatophore can be 27% of the male's body weight.
EOwX TIL that Beethoven routinely had the same breakfast each morning before he started working on his compositions. It consisted of coffee, which he prepared himself. He determined that there should be sixty beans per cup, and he often counted them out one by one for a precise dose.
6y57 TIL When David Bowie performs “Man Who Sold the World”, he would encounter kids that say “It’s cool you’re doing a Nirvana song.” He would in his mind say “Fuck you, you little tosser!”