› added 1 year ago

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TIL about William Dampier, a naturalist who used piracy as a means to explore the world. He was the first Englishman to explore parts of Australia, one of Charles Darwin's inspirations and introduced the words "barbecue", "avocado", "chopsticks", and "subspecies" into the English language.

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KYZpJ TIL that Margaret Dickson was hanged in 1724, but was later found to be still alive. She was then released because, under Scots Law, her punishment had been carried out. The words 'until dead' were only added to the sentence of hanging later.
b67yZ TIL that the Bay of Fundy has the highest tidal range in the world. In one 12-hour tidal cycle, about 100 billion tons of water flows in and out of the bay, which is twice as much as the combined total flow of all the rivers of the world over the same period.
8evEb TIL that Pennsylvania is mispelled (as "Pensylvania") on both the Constitution and the Liberty Bell
9YPa7 TIL President Jefferson, a slaveholder, refused to recognize Haiti after the Haitian Revolution and imposed a trade embargo on them to ensure their economic failure, for fear that a successful slave revolt in the West Indies would inspire slaves in the US
le8G TIL they tried to save a B-29 Bomber from WWII that was abandoned in the arctic only to have it burn down during takeoff