› added 11 years ago

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TIL that over 90 people volunteered to die in Operation Crossroads, the Navy’s first atomic test in the Bikini Atoll, including geriatrics, the suicidal, and one death-row inmate. All were, of course, refused.

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PY6jw TIL that acclaimed UK/US author Salman Rushdie, who went into hiding for 10 years after Iran issued a death warrant against him for writing "The Satanic Verses", spent much of that time playing Super Mario Bros. The game's influence can be seen in the two children’s novels he wrote for his sons.
wLkQY TIL Loki gave birth to an 8-legged horse, after disguising himself as a mare in heat and having relations with a stallion. It became "the best horse among gods and men".
OoWDX TIL Rick Wakeman started to wear capes onstage in order to hide the weird way he moved while operating footpedals, which a journalist said made him look like a demented spider. In some countries now, a show organiser will write into his contract that he must wear a cape
6ENO7 TIL, the Lead-crime hypothesis explains that the crime wave from 1970-1995 was mainly due to two generations being exposed to lead
neL0Y TIL about pan-human love. In past 300k years, we overlapped with 6 known human species. All but us now extinct, though we interbred and carry the DNA of at least two (Denisovans, Neanderthals). Some Neanderthal skeletons carry our DNA too. Denisovans and Neanderthals mixed separately from us also.