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Angelina Jolie transformed 60,000 hectares of Cambodian land, once plagued by poachers, into a wildlife sanctuary, employing some of the former poachers as rangers.
In 1978, U.S. Representative Leo Ryan visited Guyana to look into claims that Jim Jones was detaining people at the Jonestown settlement. Tragically, Ryan and his team were shot and killed while attempting to leave.
British mathematician Alan Turing was known for his peculiar behavior, such as cycling to work each June wearing a gas mask to avoid pollen. He never repaired his bike's slipping chain; instead, he counted pedal rotations to stop and manually adjust it.
Bruce Springsteen's popular track "Born in the U.S.A." is often misinterpreted as patriotic, though it actually critiques the U.S. government's treatment of Vietnam War veterans.
Airplanes are predominantly painted white as it reflects sunlight, keeping them cooler and reducing air conditioning needs, which ultimately conserves fuel.
From 2001 to 2021, a stork named Klepetan annually flew from South Africa to Croatia to join his mate, Malena, who was unable to fly due to a gunshot wound. Klepetan built nests, hunted, and raised their chicks until Malena died of old age in 2021.
General James Wilkinson, a senior U.S. officer in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, was later revealed as a Spanish spy. Historians found evidence in Spain long after his death, prompting Theodore Roosevelt to label him "the most despicable character" in U.S. history.
The more frequently a lie is repeated, the more likely people are to believe it, a phenomenon called the illusory truth effect, first documented by psychologists in 1977. The brain begins to accept repeated statements as true.
During a parade in New York City honoring Jesse Owens' four gold medals from the 1936 Olympics, an anonymous fan gave him a paper bag containing $10,000 in cash.
In 1983, Cliff Young, a 61-year-old Australian potato farmer, won a 544-mile ultramarathon, breaking the record by nearly two days. Despite lacking formal training, he outpaced younger athletes by not stopping to sleep, stating the race "wasn't easy."
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