› added 9 years ago

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TIL that in 1954, a covert US operation overthrew a democratically elected government in Guatemala for the benefit of an American fruit company.

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vPEa4 TIL The philosopher Mencius moved three times in his childhood as his mom tried to find a suitable environment. When they lived by a cemetery, his mom found him performing burials. After living by the market, he pretended to be a merchant. In the end, his mom moved him to a school and he studied
ndE9 TIL that an unknown Freddie Mercury, at the time a London shoe stall assistant, fitted David Bowie for a pair of boots – over 10 years before “Under Pressure” was recorded.
yQVRl TIL During Argentina’s 1976-83 dictatorship sedated political prisoners were thrown – still alive – from military planes into the freezing waters of the South Atlantic.
Qmv9 TIL: That the dewey decimal system, used to classify and order books in libraries, has one for Extraterrestrial History: 999. Aparently the guy who made this system in the 1800s was already prepared for an interplanetary/interstellar future for humanity
jNr0M TIL The idea that eating carrots helps you see in the dark was a lie invented by the British Airforce in WW2, in order to explain how British air raids were so successful in the dark without tipping the Germans off on the existence of radar.