› added 4 years ago

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TIL that Spain's King Philip II (after whom the Philippines are named) became King of England and Ireland when he married England's Queen Mary I, reigning jointly with his wife. As he couldn't read English it was ordered that a note of all matters of state should be made in Latin or Spanish

oBwLr TIL that Vanuatu has a population of about 270,000 and about 140 languages.
BgEaD TIL about the North Sea Flood of 1953, when a night time storm surge overwhelmed sea defences in the Netherlands, north-west Belgium, and eastern England and Scotland, with a mean flood height of 5.6m/18'4" over sea level, resulting in over 2,000 deaths on land and over 200 at sea
m15mO TIL of Julio Nivelo, who in 2016, stole a bucket of gold from an armoured truck, which was parked in Manhattan. Seeing, the van was guarded by only two guys, one of whom was the driver, Julio said, he felt like the pail belonged to him.
D8Yr TIL that Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” was actually about how television destroys interest in literature, not about censorship and while giving a lecture in UCLA the class told him he was wrong about his own book, and he just walked away.
XE1bj TIL of Valentin Dikul - a soviet circus performer who broke his back in an accident when he was 15 and was told by doctors he’d never walk again. He then designed his own training system, fully recovered and performed amazing feats of strength in the future e.g., back squatted 450kg/990lbs at 60 yo.