Here is a list of facts that will open your eyes but also break your heart. We know some of these facts are pure tragic but we think everyone should know about this so do take a look. Also it's never too late to learn something new.
23 Brutal Facts That Will Make You Wonder Why You Didn't Know This Before
By
Sumaiya Ghani in
Amazing
On 24th January 2022
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#1 Talking about luck
"TIL about Mary Ellen Pleasant, a black woman in the 1800s who amassed a fortune by eavesdropping on investors while working as a domestic."
#2 Totally deserved it
"TIL outraged Egyptians had once lynched a Roman for killing a cat."
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#3 Who found it then?
"TIL a bridge in Ireland that was designed to swing open for ships couldn't be opened for four years because someone lost the remote control."
#4 It's always the one we didn't believe in
"TIL: Carrie, Stephen King's first novel that launched his career, was rescued from the trash can after his wife Tabatha removed the crumpled up pages, read them and told her husband she wanted to know the rest of the story."
#5 Long live Queen
"TIL Queen Elizabeth II has reigned longer than her father, uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather combined."
#6 At least he survived
"TIL In 1993 a French man driving a Citroen car in a remote area of the Moroccan desert had a breakdown and became stranded. To survive he tore down the car, built a motorcycle from the parts, and rode it back to civilization. When he arrived he was ticketed for operating an illegal vehicle."
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#7 It's so tragic
"TIL About the "murder bottle". Many Victorian mothers would use a self feeding bottle to give their babies milk instead of breastfeeding. These bottles were made of earthenware & glass & were incredibly hard to clean which caused severe bacteria build up & caused the deaths of thousands of babies."
#8 Poor dolphins
"TIL dolphins sleep with one eye open. Because they have to periodically go up for air and also be aware of predators, they are able to rest only half of their brain at a time and stay always somewhat conscious."
#9 Much needed information
"TIL: The inventor of shopping carts, Sylvan Goldman, had to hire "decoy shoppers" to wheel the carts around stores and demonstrate their convenience, due to not catching on initially."
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#10 A legend
"TIL that Betty White holds the Guinness World Record for longest TV career by an entertainer, with credits spanning 80 years (1939 to 2019)."
#11 Now we get it
"TIL that owls cannot move their eyes. This is because their eyes are not balls, but cylinders that are held in place by bones called sclerotic rings. This is also the reason that owls have evolved to be able to rotate their head 270 degrees left and right, and 90 degrees up and down."
#12 Each life matters
"TIL the British Hedgehog Preservation Society won a campaign in 2006 to force McDonalds to redesign their McFlurry cups due to hedgehogs repeatedly getting stuck in them and dying."
#13 That's quite low
"TIL that according to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of U.S. adults lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level."
#14 Octopuses really be unique
"TIL that octopuses have copper-based blood rather than iron-based blood…which makes their blood blue in color. (Incidentally, they also have three hearts to pump that blood.)"
#15 That's sad
"TIL in the mid 1890s, Mary Whiton Caulkins completed all requirements towards a PhD in Psychology, but Harvard University refused to award her that degree because she was a woman."
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#16 What a thrilling life
"TIL that in Churchill, Canada, locals keep their car doors unlocked in order to provide other residents a quick escape, should they encounter a polar bear."
#17 Tragic history
"TIL that in 1945, General George S Patton, upon the liberation of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany, forced 1,000 local citizens to tour the camp to witness firsthand the atrocities that had taken place within."
#18 "useless eaters?!"
"TIL of the Lodz Ghetto, where at one point 20000 'useless eaters', mainly children under 10, were rounded up and taken away from their families to be exterminated. Many parents committed suicide."
#19 To recruit more soldiers
"TIL about Project 100k, where LBJ and Sec of Def Robert MacNamara decided to lower the mental and medical standards to recruit more soldiers to fight in Vietnam. These soldiers died at ~3x the normal rate."
#20 'Father of Robotics and Modern Day Engineering'
"TIL about Ismail al-jazari wrote the “Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices” where he described 50 mechanical devices along with instructions on creating them. He has been described as the father of robotics and modern day engineering."
#21 Five actors turned it down
"TIL Keanu Reeves was offered the lead role in The Matrix after 5 leading actors in 1990s turned it down."
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#22 He never attended a game
"TIL of Titanic survivor Frankie Goldsmith. His father died during the sinking, and when he and his mother arrived in America they settled in Detroit near Navin Field (Tiger Stadium). He never attended a game due to the cheers of the crowd reminding him of the cries of the dying people in the water."
#23 Loki was a shapeshifter
"TIL that in Norse mythology, Loki got pregnant by a horse, he would then later give birth to the eight-legged horse Sleipner which would become Odin's horse."
