› added 7 years ago

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TIL of the powerful Medici family of Florence, that produced four popes, two queens & other royals, influenced the renaissance age, bankrolled the church and kings, patronized Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo & Galileo, invented concept of ‘holding company’ and helped fund invention of the piano.

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awV6M TIL that honey bees only die after stinging humans and other mammals with thick skin, but are perfectly capable of attacking other insects. Their barbed stinger gets stuck in the thick skin making them disembowel themselves when they try to escape and die.
78DvP TIL that if light moved slower than the speed of sound, our perception of reality would fundamentally change, as we’d hear events before seeing them.
WDL4 TIL the oldest person to have ever lived, Jeanne Calment, aged 122 at death, attributed her longevity to a diet of olive oil, port wine, and 2 pounds of chocolate every week.
lo9l7 TIL about the WW2 battle between the destroyer USS Borie and U-405, in which the two ships collided and became locked together. The crews had to resort to fighting at close range, with small arms and anything they could get their hands on. One German sailor was even killed by a thrown sheath knife.
v1GYB TIL of John Jones. A medical student who was trapped in the Nutty Putty cave while spelunking in 2009. Rescue attempts were unsuccessful and the cave entrance was eventually sealed with concrete. John's body is still there today.