› added 9 months ago

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TIL Adelir Antônio de Carli, also known as 'Balloon Priest,' died in April 2008 during a cluster-ballooning attempt to raise funds for a spiritual rest area for truck drivers in Paranaguá, Brazil.

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xnWD TIL: When clasped by a predator, the spiny mouse is able to shed its skin, sometimes losing up to 60 percent of it’s skin in a single slough to escape. It can then regrow it over the course of a few days. It is the only known mammal to practice Autotomy, or self amputation.
xVVB5 TIL of the abolitionist Cassius Clay, who as well as giving his name to the famous boxer was often physically targeted for his beliefs, installing armoured doors and two cannons in his office and once disarming and cutting out the eyes of an assassin who had shot him.
1aR8r TIL that just about 90 years ago, humans believed that there's only one galaxy (ours) that's surrounded by infinite dark space. Today we know there are at least 400 Billion galaxies, some visible to the naked eye.
5YXeR TIL Walt Disney proposed to his eventual wife by saying, "I've got $75; shall I buy a new car or a wedding ring?"
YB5x TIL that gangs of dolphins are know to stalk and brutally kill porpoises. For absolutely no reason at all.