› added 1 month ago

8

TIL about Cliff Young, a then 61 yr old potato farmer, who won a 544 mile ultramarathon in 1983

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rbQ1 TIL that the largest cavalry charge in history occurred during the Turkish siege of Vienna. Spearheaded by 3000 winged knights, 20,000 Polish and German cavalrymen charged and routed the Ottoman line and decisively ended the Ottoman threat to christian Europe.
R7J8j TIL in 2005 a red panda called Babu escaped a nature centre in Birmingham for four whole days. He was awarded Brummie Of The Year for his exploits, and passed away in 2013 at age 8
x6Xgo TIL that in addition to using the stars, Micronesians navigated the Pacific by recognizing and interpreting different type of ocean swells, even using them to pinpoint the existence of islands hundreds of miles away. Marshallese islanders additionally made stick maps of these ocean swell patterns.
5YDYk TIL about We, a novel by Ayn Rand where collectivism has gone so far as to remove the word "I" from speech, accurately predicting YouTube comments on videos about communism
5YQxr TIL an SR-71 Blackbird once flew from Los Angeles to Washington DC in 64 minutes. Average speed: 2,145mph.