› added 7 years ago

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TIL that the scientist who created one of the earliest racial classification systems believed that none of the races were inherently inferior to the others, nor that colored peoples were uncivilized. His classification system became very influential but his opposition to racism was mostly ignored.

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ZpRaD TIL that during his Alps crossing, Hannibal faced a nearly impassable path so steep even soldiers struggled. Undeterred, he had his men build a road through rubble, allowing his army and war elephants to pass, though the elephants were near death from hunger after three days of backbreaking labor.
P1Qen TIL in 2023, a stolen van Gogh painting worth millions (€3-6mln), was returned to an art detective’s apartment bubble-wrapped inside an Ikea Bag
0wZaR TIL in 1977, a woman in New Mexico saw a burn mark in her tortilla that looked like the face of Jesus. She then built and ran the "Shrine of the Miracle Tortilla" until 2006 when the tortilla was dropped and broken during show-and-tell at a local elementary school.
QNXDe TIL Richard Phillips survived the longest wrongful prison sentence in American history by writing poetry and painting with watercolours. He also had the opportunity to kill the man who helped put him away, but he chose not to. He’s due to be paid $1.5 million for being wrongfully convicted.
L51v TIL Korobeiniki, widely known for being featured in Nintendo’s 1989 release of Tetris, is actually a traditional Russian folk song. More details in comments.