› added 5 years ago

314

TIL that during the run-up to the Gulf War, Muhammad Ali travelled to Iraq and personally secured the release of 15 American hostages being detained by Saddam Hussein, despite the US Government and press condemning the mission and Ali as 'another egomaniacal celebrity out of his depth'.

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b9Aw4 TIL avocados evolved to be eaten whole by herbivore dinosaurs, who would then poop out the pit to a new location, spreading the trees; after dinosaur extinction, the plant narrowly hung on in a small part of Mesoamerica until humans discovered the fruit and started cultivating them widely
xVglg TIL Moose violently shed their antler velvet (layer of skin) and the rest of their antlers each season
1ML8 TIL The English monarch, William III was so broke he levied a tax on properties with too many windows to increase his revenue. This caused property owners to brick up any excess windows to avoid paying the tax. This is the origin of the term “Daylight Robbery”
4mN TIL Korean baseball teams are named after companies that own them, not regions (an example is Samsung Lions)
OG60L TIL Kate Winslet broke Tom Cruise's underwater filming record while filming Avatar 2. Winslet held her breath during a scene for seven minutes and twelve seconds beating the mark of six minutes Cruise set while filming Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.