› added 4 years ago

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Today i learned about Great Zimbabwe, largest settlement ruins in sub-saharan Arica which also tradet with Arab-Indian states. When european colonists saw it, they claimed it was too complex to be of african origins, and ordered historians to dispute the evidence of its african history.

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via reddit.com

5V0BD TIL that Thalidomide, the drug responsible for thousands of birth defects across Europe in the 1950s/60s, was developed by a doctor who had previously worked for the Nazis, experimenting on concentration camp victims
JdRj TIL when Mark Wahlberg was 16, “he was charged with attempted murder for beating a Vietnamese refugee with a metal hook, leaving the victim blind. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but served just 45 days.”
EMmX TIL that during filming of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back the actor playing Darth Vader was instructed to say “Obi-Wan killed your father” instead of “I am your father” in order to hide the secret twist from even the actors until the final movie
78g6X TIL that in 2006, the movie Blazing Saddles was found to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress. It has since been preserved in the National Film Registry.
vrPr TIL the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was so fast that the standard evasive action in case a surface-to-air missile launch was detected was simply to accelerate and outfly the missile