› added 12 years ago

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TIL space smells like “seared steak” or “hot metal” to astronauts returning from spacewalks

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N7P6b TIL one of the highest paid jobs in the country is a Harbor Pilot, where they specialize in piloting large cargo ships into shipping ports with precision; they can earn over $400,000 a year
oBmDA TIL in 1899, Denver journalists wrote a fake story that China was tearing down the Great Wall. To their surprise it was picked up by a major newspaper with "confirmation" from officials and illustrations of the wall being torn down. The hoax spread across the U.S. and Europe without being debunked.
ANPy7 TIL Lucy Hester Stanhope (1776-1839), a British adventurer and archaeologist, discovered a 7-foot tall Greco-Roman statue which she then smashed into pieces and tossed into the Mediterranean because she wanted to prove to the Ottoman government that she had no interest in stealing their antiquities.
OGDRR TIL the oldest octopus fossil ever found is about 330 million years old.
Oppg TIL Da Vinci was a devoted vegetarian, a nearly-unheard of practice at his time. His love for animals was such that he would often purchase caged birds just to release them.