› added 12 years ago

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TIL Heavyweight Boxer Wladimir Klitschko donated his 1996 Olympic Gold Medal to a charity auction to help Ukrainian children, and was sold for $1 Million dollars. It was immediately returned to him by the buyer, who wanted it to remain in the Klitschko family.

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LkMKd TIL that in 1989, a pilotless Soviet Air Force jet fighter crashed into a house in Belgium, killing one person. The pilot had ejected over an hour earlier over Poland after experiencing technical problems.
e0LZ6 TIL camel and goat eyes are ovals to better control light input and are horizontal for a 'panoramic view' that blocks light from above and below. Cats and predators are vertical slits for judging distance without moving the head. Cats eyes alone have ~9x more control over light than humans.
gMp09 TIL when we set one specific goal, people will tend to optimize for that objective regardless of the consequences. This is also known as Goodhart’s Law which says, “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
4Pw TIL due to the long exposure limitations of Victorian photography, the mothers of children getting a portrait done would be camouflaged into the scenery.
gMaW7 TIL Since the death of Confucius in 479 BC, all his descendants have been registered. With over 2 million registered descendants alive today. Making it the largest family tree in the world.