› added 11 years ago

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TIL Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific in 1947 in a self-built raft to prove ancient people could have made contact between the continents

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oBVQK TIL that giraffes sleep using their own butts as pillows
mA8Y TIL Emanuel Bronner of “Dr. Bronner’s Soaps” was a German-born Jew who escaped the rise of Nazism. His last correspondence from his parents was a postcard that read “You were right. —Your loving father.” They died in the concentration camps.
0d1Mj TIL ostriches, the fastest and largest extant bipedal terrestrial animal, can run for 30 minutes at 50 km/h (31.1 mph) and can also move at a speed of 70 km/h (43.5 mph) for short sprints. Interestingly, unlike other birds, ostriches have only two toes on each foot.
e0D0k TIL After Col. Shaw died in battle, Confederates buried him in a mass grave as an insult for leading black soldiers. Union troops tried to recover his body, but his father sent a letter saying "We would not have his body removed from where it lies surrounded by his brave and devoted soldiers."
xVXNw TIL American politician and former vice president Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814) argued against the idea of a standing army, comparing it to a standing penis: "An excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but a dangerous temptation to foreign adventure."