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TIL that Lea Thompson (Back to the Future) studied ballet as a girl & danced professionally by the age of 14, winning multiple prestigious scholarships. Told she did not have the right body to become a prima ballerina by Mikhail Baryshnikov himself, she changed her focus to acting.

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p8wJ4 TIL One of the greatest boxers of all time was a man of 5'7 in height called Sam Langford who other greats like Jack Dempsey refused to fight because of his power. He fought until aged 43, at that point he was almost completely blind.
J1aVv TIL about Elizabeth Bathory, the "Blood Countess" who is believed to have tortured and killed hundreds of young girls in 16th century Hungary. She bathed in their blood, hoping it would preserve her youth. She was caught, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment for her gruesome crimes.
PYRYL TIL when sonar was first invented, operators were puzzled by the appearance of a ‘false seafloor’ that changed depth with the time of day and amount of moonlight. It was eventually identified as a previously unknown layer of billions of lanternfish that reflect sonar waves and migrate up and down.
YpWGP TIL President Jimmy Carter was in Mexico City on Valentines Day, 1979. At the opening ceremonies in Mexico City, Carter remarked that he could not "imagine a more appropriate day" for Mexico and the United States to meet "and to express the feelings that the people of my country have towards yours"
wo0a6 TIL that "Weird Al" Yankovic is one of only five artists to chart on the Billboard Top 100 each of the previous four decades. The other four are U2, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Kenny G.