› added 2 years ago

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TIL: Timothy Dexter was an eccentric businessman known for his improbably successful investments. He was fooled to send bed warmers to the West Indies (hot), but sold them as ladles, he exported stray cats to the Caribbean who used them to kill rats, etc. He also told people his wife was a ghost.

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OyER TIL Japanese voice actress Tomoko Kaneda can produce sounds at a frequency beyond that of human hearing, and grew 4cm in height between the ages of 29 and 37.
xVjl1 TIL Quebec was founded by request of the Native Wabanaki, who figured French guns and ships between them and their enemies would ensure survival. The Wabanaki are one of the few natives who still live on their native lands and speak their native languages as a result. (added sources in comments)
9YGr7 TIL in 1959, a geologist built a rock cairn 1.2 m away from a glacier and left a note, asking whoever found it to measure the distance to the glacier. When it was found in 2013, the distance had grown up to 101.5 m. For a scientist in the 1950s to predict a glacier retreating was highly unexpected.
0wlWj TIL Current theory is Venus initially spun anticlockwise. In a way, still does, but upside down. It flipped its axis 180 degrees at some point. Theory: Sun's gravitational pull on Venus' atmosphere caused strong atmospheric tides that combined w/ friction between Venus' mantle and core, flipping it.
p8njZ TIL in the late Middle Ages, A man accused of murder fought the victim's dog in a trial by combat. As the dog's jaws were around his throat, he confessed and was hanged.