› added 5 years ago

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TIL that the No 2 most wanted student after Tiananmen Square protest, tried to turn himself in to the Chinese 4 times. The Chinese officials refused to arrest him, and he was even detained by the Japanese police when he tried to force his way into the Chinese Embassy in order to turn himself in.

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kWMB TIL psychologists widely condemn “experiential avoidance”, the conscious effort to avoid certain feelings or thoughts. It can lead to social anxiety, self-harm and other problems.
BrY8L TIL the term "crimes against humanity" was first used in 1890 by George Williams to describe the practices of Leopold II of Belgium. After meeting the king, Williams travelled to the Free Congo State (which Belgium owned) and was shocked by the widespread and brutal abuses of the Congolese.
GYdQ5 TIL that during the Black Death, the physician to the Papacy recognized that bloodletting was ineffective, but he continued to prescribe bleeding for members of the Roman Curia, whom he disliked. He also claimed that all true cases of plague were caused by astrological factors, and were incurable
9YbMp TIL that in 1938, a physicist proposed an exact number for the total number of protons in the observable universe.
5VoRB TIL that ebony doesn't come from 1 species, but from a whole family of nearly 500 species, which includes the common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)