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TIL that the team that helped Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first climb Mount Everest in 1953 numbered at nearly 400 persons. There were 350 porters, 30 Sherpas, and 13 climbers.

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4YR6 TIL a man died after he accidentally injected himself with cow antibiotics. Poison Control: “there is no antidote”.
OGbKa TIL that the CIA created a gun that could shoot darts causing heart attacks. Upon penetration of the skin, the dart left just a tiny red dot. The poison worked rapidly and denatured quickly, leaving no trace. This weapon was revealed in a 1975 Congressional testimony.
5VXJk TIL Independent Chinese families are classified accordingly to their stove. In the case of a father's death, the eldest son inherits the stove and the younger brothers transfer the coals to their own new stoves. This invites the Stove god to join their new households and is called "pun chu".
41xa TIL: There is an Octopus species that cares for her eggs for 53 months, apparently not eating during this time, then dies. This brooding period is the longest known for any animal.
p8NvA TIL about HERA, a telescope searching for the oldest stars in the universe, from a period known as the Cosmic Dark Ages. And it is built from stuff you could buy at any local hardware store. "This is the beauty of low frequency radio astronomy: one doesn’t need custom, expensive hardware."