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There are hundreds of thousands of thoughts running through our minds every single minute. In such a busy world that we live in, we’re bombarded with information, whether from media or other people that we have to process somehow. And this is one hell of a task to do, yet it never ends.
So let’s all put a pause on whatever it is that our pacing minds and bodies are thinking and doing and sit back to enjoy the moment. While devouring so much content, voluntarily or not, we often forget to reflect on the things we see, read and hear.
This time we’re going to do just the opposite with our monthly collection of “Today I Learned” posts that spark the joys of curiosity and learning. Scroll down, upvote your favorite posts and let this break last longer with more TIL posts that we have prepared for you, here, here, and here.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
TIL Norway sends The UK a christmas tree every year to thank UK for saving Norway in WW2
Nea 3 years ago
Norway seems like to most generous country, almost an anomaly in a world of expansion politics. They have been trying to gift Finalnd a mountain!
Jessica Wood 3 years ago
Yes, for Finland's 100th birthday, they wanted to change their boundary slightly to put the mountain peak on the Finnish side instead of the Norwegian side. But the Norwegian constitution forbids changing land barriers, so they weren't allowed.
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Liam Walsh 3 years ago
Here is more information for any who may wish it - there is more to it than can fit in a Bored Panda comment! https://norwaytoday.info/culture/why-does-norway-give-a-christmas-tree-to-the-uk-every-year/
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PiscesMama 3 years ago
As a Brit who enjoys the beautiful Christmas tree and is obsessed by Christmas, I’d still be happier if Norway banned whale hunting! How do they have such a clean image with the blood of 500 whales last year alone on them?
Arnold Gill 3 years ago
The Netherlands send millions of tulip bulbs to Canada every year for the same reason.
Lorraine 2 years ago
Not exactly the same, Canada also hosted and protected the royal family, and that's what they thank.
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tkdmasterg 3 years ago
Halifax, Nova Scotia does the same thing by sending a Christmas Tree every year to Boston, Massachusetts to thank them for the help they provided after the Halifax Explosion (WW1)
Hugh Walter 2 years ago
For defending Norway at short notice (and losing) not saving it, the allies saved it along with everywhere else in 1945, the trees are for the sacrifices of 1940. Today you unlearned something and falsely told the rest of us!
Em Berry 2 years ago
Nova Scotia , Canada sends a Christmas tree every year to Boston , US to thank them for helping On December 6, 1917 at 9:04.35 AM, the Halifax Explosion severely destroyed much of the city. Boston authorities learned of the disaster via telegraph, and quickly organized and dispatched a relief train around 10:00 PM that night, to assist survivors.
DetongLhamo 3 years ago
I think the Brits are thankful for the brave effort of the Norwegians during WWII.
RELATED:
#2
TIL in the early 90s LL Cool J shared with his grandma that he couldn't survive as a rapper now that gangsta rap was popular. His grandma responded, "Oh baby, just knock them out!" which inspired him to write 'Mama Said Knock You Out' a grammy award winning certified platnum single.
StrangeOne 3 years ago
I used to think those awards were called Grannies.
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Michael Sanders 3 years ago (edited)
Always loved that story. Also used it as a diss track for Kool Moe Dee (long time rival), hammer, and ice T. Also his last good one in my opinion. Sorry was not down with Doin It or Hey Lover. Also I promise you he’s the first person you’ve ever seen using G.O.A.T.
freefall 3 years ago
LOL! Back in the `80s, I listened to a lot of gangsta rap. A lot of my black friends were put off by it being too hard. Yes, it was a public school and covered a lot of demographics.
StrangeOne 3 years ago
It isn't for everyone, but some songs, if you really read the lyrics and try to understand them, many of them are not actually glamourizing gangs, drugs and violence. They were telling it how it is based on their own experiences, how they wanted out and can't, how they saw their friends die and/or get lost to addictions and bad life choices, the affects their choices had on their family and the struggles of defending their neighbourhoods from crime from gang activity.
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#3
TIL that the Magic Eraser has no chemical solvents in it. Instead it is a special foam with super sharp microscopic edges that basically scrapes off dirt.
Dan Padgett 3 years ago
Aye, it's effectively a soft sanding pad. They rub off paint and smear it.
Nicely 3 years ago
And now you know that, look up melamine sponges and buy a 10 pack for the cost of a single magic spong.
Nathan Pogorzala 3 years ago
yeah for real. Ebay has them. Like a 50 pack for 10 bucks.
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Beck 3 years ago
They work amazingly on bathtubs. And on my moms bathroom floor with hairspray buildup😆
Grace Smith 3 years ago
Ooo maybe I should get some for my bathroom floor
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Joseph Kastorff 3 years ago
this is the absolute best thing to clean the white toes / lip on converse!
Jackie Lulu 3 years ago
I ruined bathroom vanity trying to get soap scum off. You have to be careful with those things.
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Heather 3 years ago (edited)
Literally had someone park directly opposite of my driveway in order to harass me. (Guy was hurting his girlfriend in the car and we intervened and recorded the interaction so he started doing jerk things like parking his heap hoping one of us would hit it.) Ended up with a bit of paint transfer. (Red paint on black paint.) Basically figured it would be a permanent change to my paint job when a friend lept up, went in the house and got a magic eraser. A bit of water and careful work and it looked like it never happened.
Cara G 3 years ago
I feel like this comment could be its own Greek tragedy. What happened to the girlfriend?
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Lily Mae Kitty 3 years ago
these things are awesome. I sell vintage and antiques and it's amazing how decades of grime wipe away without damaging anything.
Katy McMouse 3 years ago
It says not to use them on glass, but I clean my windows with them. Just get them slightly more wet than normal, clean your windows and use a "rough" paper towel to wipe off. I say rough because softer paper towels (like Bounty) don't absorb the way you need them to when you are wiping down (an extra strength generic towel works really well). After you finish wiping off the glass, if there are any streaks, buff them out with a dry paper towel. I don't even mind doing windows now and they were so effective, I have walked straight into my sliding glass door after I had cleaned it this way.
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With so much information bombarding us every day, it may be challenging to separate valuable information from things that do nothing but waste our time. So Bored Panda reached out to Alex Wong, the “Hijack” Copywriter, who has been on a mission to help small and corporate businesses “hijack” their clients’ minds and help them to grow their businesses and sales.
"When it comes to learning something new, I always try to stick with reputable sources. Well-respected sites, books, journals, and academic papers are better than blogs or sites focused on getting the most attention and clicks," Wong said.
He added that if he's not sure, he always asks others who are more familiar with the topic what they recommend. "Reddit and Quora are great resources to get feedback on a wide variety of topics," Wong added.
#4
TIL Flowers exposed to the playback sound of a flying bee produce sweeter nectar within 3 minutes, with sugar concentration averaging 20% higher.
BordestPanda 3 years ago
Not necessarily. Native bee populations are the ones that are really suffering, but the European honeybee population is thriving thanks to beekeepers. If you want to help the bees, plant native plants, don’t become a backyard bee keeper.
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Helen Witten 3 years ago
I didn't know that one. I suppose it's a bit like me when I hear a well spoken man with a beautiful, deep resonate voice. Sucks me in everytime :)
Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
Read the book "The Secret Life of Plants" by Tomkins and Bird. You may never murder a plant again.
#5
TIL that the "Perfect Aryan" poster child that was widely used in Nazi propaganda was actually Jewish. The photo was selected from a Nazi-held contest, where the photographer of the baby had submitted the photo as an ironic joke.
alias D. 3 years ago
That isn’t entirely different level of irony, humor and a big a f you
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Nizumi 3 years ago
As yes, the perfect Aryan. Blond like Hitler, slim like Göring, tall like Goebbels.
Hutt'nKloas 3 years ago (edited)
@Lyone Fein : Not completely true. Maybe not international awards but definitely recognition. Not willing to boost nazi's but we have to look at history with an objective eye. How would you define e.g. Wernher von Braun or Walter Dornberger??? The allies where all to pleased to welcome their knowledge and therefore set their contribution to atrocities happily aside
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Janine B. 3 years ago
She did. And she is still alive. :) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hessy_Levinsons_Taft
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Asher Tye 3 years ago
This actually doesn't surprise me. Didn't know it, but doesn't surprise me.
Robert B 3 years ago
Seems to me that many authoritarian/totalitarian groups have a bad case of can’t see the forest for the trees. Really it shows up in any repressive groups.
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VodkaInMySweetTea 3 years ago
Here is the picture and the full story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/07/the-perfect-aryan-child-the-nazis-used-in-propaganda-was-actually-jewish/
Julie 3 years ago
Reminds me of the movie Europa Europa:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Europa
#6
TIL The founder of Sony hired an outspoken critic of their products so they could make better products. 20 years later, he became the president of Sony.
Dodomaster Lord of chickens 3 years ago
*old boomer voice* nobody wants to get criticized anymore
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Will Cable 3 years ago
It is a shame that so many companies these days think that their customers are the ones that are wrong and that the companies can never do wrong.
It's no secret that when it comes to learning new things, many people don't know where to start or try to find excuses not to. Wong, however, believes that he's built differently than most people since he doesn't lack motivation.
"For me, once I found out that learning something is beneficial, even if I may not want to do it initially, I will still find a way to do it. For example, I’m currently learning how to run FB ads to market a book I published. Even though it would have been easier to hire someone to do it, I figured it would be beneficial for me to learn about the platform and how they work. That way, I will be able to run ads for any products in the future," he explained.
Wong argues that in the end, it all comes down to finding your "why". "Once you find a strong enough reason to do something, the next step is figuring out 'how' to do it. Most people don't want to put in the hard work to learn something new but still want the results," Wong concluded.
#7
TIL that in 1845 79 people died in a bridge collapse that happened because a large crowd had gathered to watch a clown in a bathtub be pulled up a river by four geese.
Waite Forit 3 years ago
Suddenly I can hear my mother's voice saying "See, that's what happens when you clown around like that."
ToyWyvern 3 years ago
Was the clown okay? That poor guy must have felt so guilty.
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Michael Sanders 3 years ago (edited)
It’s 1845. If you heard there was going to be a clown in a tub pulled up the river by 4 geese you would’ve been on that bridge too. Shoot I’d go now just glad bridges are made better.
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 3 years ago
Washing tub drawn by 4 real geese...this was a terrible and tragic idea from the very start.
#8
TIL that Supai, AZ is the most remote community in the contiguous US. It is 8 miles from the nearest road and is only accessible by foot, mule, or helicopter. It is the only place in the United States where mail is still carried in and out by mules.
Skara Brae 3 years ago
It's a tribal community Inside the Grand Canyon. They don't want a road, because they would be drastically over-run with tourists. Also, people who are willing to hike 8 miles are far quieter than hundreds of vehicles.
ChickyChicky 3 years ago
There is a push to make the US Postal Service a non-governmental agency and turn it over to for-profit companies. If that happens, these small, out-of-the-way places will be completely cut off from packages because they aren't profitable. This will especially affect Native reservations. It's a bucketload of shite and puts remote and poorer communities at risk.
Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
AZ = Arizona, for our non US readers. The place is in the Grand Canyon.
Waite Forit 3 years ago (edited)
Thank you for correctly using the word "contiguous" instead of "continental". "Continental United States" includes Alaska.
Vylnce NA 3 years ago
Correct. There are far more remote places in Alaska. On the same theme, however, those remote Alaskan villages get their mail delivered by hovercraft in the winter. I wonder what the prices differences are for donkey vs hovercraft delivered mail.
Load More Replies... Claudia Schmid 3 years ago
Yes. I want to go there. I like car-free places
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Yvette Desmarais 3 years ago
Been near there. It's beautiful. There's a special feeling there.
Roy Webb 3 years ago (edited)
As soon as the pandemic started, the Havasupai closed their village and their campgrounds and people running the Grand Canyon were asked not to stop at the mouth of Cataract Creek, commonly known as Havasu, some 12 miles downstream from the village. They wanted to protect their elders, at the cost of the tourism they depend on. And the village of Supai is still closed.
#9
TIL in 1982, Byron Peiss wrote a book called the Secret. In it, there are clues to 12 treasure boxes hidden in various places all around the US and Canada. As of 2022, only 3 of the 12 boxes have ever been found. If a box is discovered, you can exchange it for bragging rights and a precious gem
tHeBoRdEsTpAnDa 3 years ago
I'll help you and we can split the reward. Maybe keep a couple for ourselves
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MagicJacket 3 years ago
John Gates had one of his Expedition Unkown episodes about it and was there when some people found one of the boxes. Clues are in a book of paintings. What a cool thing to do! Sadly, the writer was killed in a car accident & doesn't get to see his treasures found. His family is fulfilling the rewards whenever the treasures are recovered.
Whitefox 3 years ago
I saw that episode and was like awww... they aren't going to find anything.... then they did! I love his shows!!
Load More Replies... Ozymandias73 3 years ago
Josh Gates of Expedition Unknown did a show about this and interviewed one of the guys who had found one of the boxes. First I learned of this. Fascinating story.
Sarah SH 3 years ago
I don’t need anything else to become obsessively preoccupied with right now and I could see this happening with me.
Previously, we also spoke with Helen Marlo, a licensed clinical psychologist and Jungian psychoanalyst who provides psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and consultation about how we can all become better at learning new things every day.
According to Marlo, “it helps to understand what messages we have internalized about curiosity as well as the responses received from others when we express curiosity.”
“For example, many internalize that being curious means they “do not know something” or are not intelligent. That inhibits curiosity and its negative effects are compounded because it limits further learning,” the professor explained.
#10
TIL Ladybugs are extremely promiscuous, and as a result have rampant STD'S
Aunt Riarch 3 years ago (edited)
I'm going to be thinking about this all day now.... A row of ladybirds lined up outside the clinic, not looking eachother in the face
tHeBoRdEsTpAnDa 3 years ago
This took me WAY too long to make because chrome canvas sucks, but: Because-la...2e-png.jpg 
Sarah SH 3 years ago
A few years ago my son (5 at the time) speculated that all ladybugs must be gay because they are all ladies. My husband told him that that if they were all girls they wouldn’t be able to have baby ladybugs. Since my son didn’t quite know how reproduction worked at that age, he called his father an idiot. He then elaborated: “Mom said that some kids have two mommies and that there’s nothing wrong with that and anyone who has a problem with it is an idiot.”
Emerald Joanna 3 years ago
I wonder what they are? Gonorrhoebug? Chlaladybugmidia? Trinsectomonas?
Nea 3 years ago
Ladybugs are really interesting beings. Among other interesting facts about them, i particulary like how they were named, “ Legend has it that the “lady” in lady beetle dates back to the Middle Ages. The story is that farmers' crops were being damaged by swarms of aphids. But after the farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help, the ladybugs arrived, ate all the aphids, and saved the day. The farmers were so grateful that from then on they referred to the insects as “Our Lady’s beetles.”
Mary Rogers 3 years ago
And I just thought it was because they look like they are wearing polka-dot dresses.
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Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
Inscription on an Egyptian tomb perhaps if aphids were one of the plagues of Egypt?
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Sheila McCarthy 3 years ago
Drs employed just to test ladybugs for STDs. How crazy. And who discovered this?
#11
TIL that the disability with the highest unemployment rate is actually schizophrenia, at 70-90%
Nea 3 years ago
Not surprising considering how schizophrenia can impact people’s relationship with reality as well as considering how the world views people with such mental disorder. To add, how in most part of the world, the disease is often treated as paranormal condition.
Monday 3 years ago
And factor in that many schizophreniacs go off their meds periodically and can't function in a normal job as a result. It's sad, but it's understandable.
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ShellsBells 3 years ago
Crazy thing I learned about schizophrenia: In developed countries, people that can hear voices typically have a negative experience, like "you are worthless," "no one loves you," etc. Everything the voices say is horrible. In less developed countries, their experience is typically positive. "You're amazing!" "You're doing a great job!" The reason? Less developed countries see the person as hearing voices from ghosts or spirits, which is a positive experience for everyone involved. In developed countries, we shame mental health and treat people with such conditions as lepers and vile creatures. You can actually take someone that has a negative experience and actually work on it to make it positive. It's amazing what a little compassion can do for someone.
The ProGamer 3 years ago
Job applications really don't treat people with disabilities nicely, huh
Metalhead Turtle 🇺🇦 3 years ago
Nope. Autism Spectrum here and I can't tell anyone because when I was learning how to apply, I was told that I'd have my hand held. ... almost literally. Pass!
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Eleanor Abernathy 3 years ago
Asperger Autism is similar with about 80% in Germany. 85% in US, according to this: https://thinkingautismguide.com/2018/02/why-is-autistic-unemployment-rate-so.html
Lauren S 3 years ago
Wow, this surprises me for some reason. I’d really like to see the study that came up with the 85% unemployment rate which seems to be mentioned everywhere but no one listed the source. I can find the study that lists the unemployment rate at 66% but it’s from 2015. I think I want NOT to believe it because I don’t want anyone struggling with Autism to think they cannot hold down a job.
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Powerful Katrinka 3 years ago
Some troll (not the first word that came to mind) is gratuitously downvoting random comments. I can't fathom the mind that thinks that this is amusing.
Sue User 3 years ago
And I go around upvoting when I see someone downvoted without a darn good reason.
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Azure Adams 3 years ago
It is a debilitating condition. I've treated many people diagnosed schizophrenic. Some were highly functional with the right med combination and awareness of symptoms, it was a very small percentage. Most had marginally functional lives but not consistently
Mary Rogers 3 years ago (edited)
The sad part is that when they are on meds that work well for them and take them consistently, they are perfectly normal and can hold down a job. But just ONE episode can cause them to lose everything. I used to volunteer with a mental health organization and I saw a guy lose both his job and his housing in less than a week. Both his boss and his roommate thought he was on drugs and he couldn't correct them because the stigma of schizophrenia is worse than the stigma of being on drugs. In America, in theory people with mental illness have some job protections through the Americans with Disabilities Act, but in reality most people wouldn't feel comfortable disclosing that information.
Raven Greer 3 years ago
I worked with a guy that must have had it because I can't think of why else he started trying to fist fight the air.
Kurtis Karr 3 years ago
At my work, they just play the music loud to drown out the voices. Problem solved.
#12
TIL there's an unexplained global effect called "The Hum" only heard by about 2-4% of the world's population. The phenomenon was recorded as early as the 1970s, and its possible causes range from industrial environments, to neurological reasons, to tinnitus, to fish.
Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
It's not a global effect. It happens in different places around the world, all with different causes. It's a low hum, not everyone can hear low tones, so that's why only 2-4% hear it.
Nadine Debard 3 years ago
And when you are able to hear it it's very occasional. And a disturbung experience.
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Mimi 3 years ago
I hear it and let me tell you, it's hell. Only when I read that many people only hear it in one ear I realized it's mainly my right ear. So if it comes, I focus on the left ear, which helps me extremely to cope. It's so unbelievable that the cause is still unknown with so many hearing it and suffering. Fortunately for me it's not all the time any more like it used to be. I did a lot of research on that topic but never found anything satisfying.
roz 3 years ago
It's not one thing. It depends where you are. During covid they discovered the hum in detroit/windsor was caused by a steel plant, because for the first time in decades it was shut down. https://www.npr.org/2020/08/04/898853311/it-took-a-pandemic-mystery-of-windsor-hum-is-solved
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Robert T 3 years ago
There are various unexplained noises all over the world. The local council has currently given up trying to find one near Holmfirth in Yorkshire, which has been keeping residents awake.
Mimi 3 years ago
It's just so weird nobody seems to find anything. Like we can say what a dinosaur ate but not where actual sounds come from?
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TheHalloweenTeen 3 years ago
Wait... I thought this was just what happened when around you was quiet, this isn't normal? Ya'll don't hear that??
Kimberly Banow 3 years ago
I used to think that the ringing sound you hear when it's all quiet was what what people meant by "the sound of silence."
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Mark Fuller 3 years ago
There is genuinely a weird fish one (probably not farts) in Sausalito Bay, San Fransisco that had something to do with fish...
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Arwen 3 years ago
My dad used to hear it at the house we grew up in. He described it as sounding like a car engine idling on a hill. It drove him crazy for years. Very occasionally I could hear it too, but it wasn’t loud enough to bother me. My mum could never hear it.
Nadine Debard 3 years ago
Yes that's an accurate description. One evening I tried to see who kept his engine on in the backstreet for so long, so I put my head outside and heared a complete silence. Closed the window and heared the sound again. Never found the source (obviously), happened several times, husband never heard it.
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nerdy_panda 3 years ago
im not certain, but i think i may have heard this. maybe only once or twice a year, i wake up in the middle of the night feeling dizzy and with a low humming noise in my brain. when i was little, it used to scare the c**p out of me, and i stayed awake all night because it felt hard to function. up until now, i never paid much attention to it but im wondering if that's what's happening... hm
Gremlan jonnson 3 years ago
Like a low electric hummmm, like someone is running a washer or something in the next room and the reverb is going trough the walls and floors
Research suggests that “individuals who feel secure in relationships are more likely to feel and express curiosity including feeling free and confident to explore others’ viewpoints; pursue a new hobby, or learn a new subject area,” Marlo noted.
Among many new things we can learn every day, language is one of the most beneficial ones. She explained that learning a new language has many benefits including improving cultural awareness and increasing empathy.
There has been an argument that learning languages have the ability to prevent diseases like dementia, but Helen warns that data on that is still unclear. “However, very generally speaking, there is a “use it or lose it” principle when it comes to our brain health. We are less likely to “lose it” when we “use it."
#13
TIL A 2017 study found that the introduction of iodized salt in 1924 raised the IQ for the one-quarter of the population most deficient in iodine.
Nadine Debard 3 years ago
In France, in those days, there was a slur which said 'crétin des Alpes', basically mountain (Alps) idiot, because of the intellectual deficiency due to the lack of iodine in this area.
Richard Henderson 3 years ago
Now if the ban Fox “news” they can raise the IQ of half the country.
AwesomeLeoWife 3 years ago
Iodine is found naturally in eggs, dairy, chicken and a few other things. I know those are common grocery items now but to think they were so uncommon enough that it was added to salt is definitely thought provoking.
Antablack 3 years ago
Think about it. When the soil is deficient in iodine, the eggs dairy and chicken are deficient in iodine too.
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indiecognition 3 years ago (edited)
Ensuing that there is no lead in tap water could have a similar impact
Ash 3 years ago
There's actually a theory that the decrease in violent crime in the US since the 1990s is because of the removal of lead additives in motor fuel. One of the psychological effects of lead is problems with impulse control, which can contribute to higher crime rates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis
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Jessica J. 3 years ago
It is accepted knowledge, in Psychology, of poverty induced mental and/or intellectual deficiency.
Michael Sanders 3 years ago (edited)
The largest impact and initial purpose of iodized salt was to fight goiter. The positive side effect was an increase in IQ in otherwise iodine deficient areas.
Katy McMouse 3 years ago
My MIL is a terrible cook (and person) who refuses to cook with or flavor her meals with salt. This 'splains a whole hell of a lot.
LizzieBoredom 3 years ago
And then they put salt on the rim of margarita glasses and lowered the IQ of the remaining 3/4 of the population.
#14
TIL that breast cancer used to be known as "Nun's disease" due to the higher prevalence amongst nuns, who were at increased risk due to their celibate lifestyle. An association between reproductive history and cancer risk wasn't proven for about 250 years after it was associated with nuns.
Aunt Riarch 3 years ago
So they lived long enough to die of cancer, unlike their reproducing sisters
Vera1 3 years ago
Breastfeeding lowers the risk of developing breast cancer. So it’s probably the fact that they’ve never had children
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Agnes Jekyll 3 years ago
And they also found that Nuns didn't get cervical cancer at as high rates--which helped find and understand the human papilloma virus.
Xenon 3 years ago (edited)
Bunnies have the same issue. Females who aren't fixed and never have young have I think around an 80% chance of having breast cancer. Happened to my daughters rabbit. She survived the surgery thank god. She passed years later of old age. She was a wonder shade of grey named Stormy. A true dwarf rabbit, roughly a little bit bigger than a Guinea pig. Used to sleep on my lap while I read. Sorry for the tangent, thinking of bunnies made me nostalgic.
Claire Fraser 3 years ago
Bunnies are awesome. Desexing definitely stops the risk of cancers. (I foster health issue bunnies) one of my girls couldn't be desexed due to heart problems and passed away about 5yrs old from a uterine tumour. We couldn't operate due to the likelihood of her not surviving anaesthesia but she had a loving health life as long as we could
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Markus Holstein 3 years ago
Nuns (usually) don't get pregnant and do not take oral contraceptives, which is why they have an above-average overall number of periods. Every period is accompanied by cell division in the ovaries and breasts, which is exactly when cancer can occur
Analyn Lahr 3 years ago
So people who don't have sex, like say, asexuals, that have a family history of breast cancer might have something to worry about?
Raven Greer 3 years ago
Breast feeding is what lowers the chance of breast cancer. You can take meds to make you produce milk and pump it for a while even if you don't have a kid if it's something your worried about. Considering the price of formal now a days. You could likely sell it.
Load More Replies... Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
So you devote your life to god and he rewards you with cancer. Nice guy.
Cowws 3 years ago
hey, on the flip side a life of celibacy makes you avoid all STDs, unless you're one of the poor people to be born with it
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Becca Cliff 3 years ago
It's because they don't give birth. That is a factor in breast cancer.
#15
TIL Queen Sophie of the Netherlands’ marriage with King William was so turbulent that when she died, she was buried in her wedding dress because she viewed her life ended on the day she got married.
Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
Turbulent? He raped her, abused her (physically), cheated on her with many women and was an unstable, sick man.
Sarah SH 3 years ago
She should have buried him in her wedding dress then.
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Powerful Katrinka 3 years ago
Sophie was a highly intelligent woman, who sponsored many of the natural philosophers of the period. In particular, she was the sponsor and friend of the mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who may have invented the calculus (this was a huge controversy of the day as Newton claimed the same thing.)
Jeffrey Diehl 3 years ago
One of them invented differential and the other integral.
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#16
TIL In the 1990s Marvel released their financial reports in comic book form. The comics featured characters like Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk discussing revenue sources and future business plans.
tuzdayschild 3 years ago
Sounds far more interesting than a regular spreadsheet to me.
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Karl Baxter 3 years ago
Not sure that the film “Spider-Man and the Third Quarter Profit Forecast” would work
#17
TIL Certain types of fly larvae are ideal for treating gangrene because they feed on dead and infected tissue but leave healthy tissue alone. However, because of the nature of this type of treatment, many people are reluctant to try it.
Emerald Joanna 3 years ago
Maggots clean wounds up beautifully! I treated a festering skin cancer infected with maggots & they had made the skin as clean as a whistle. Was amazing to see.
Mimi M 3 years ago
Actaeon Beetle Larvae - the worlds largest/heaviest beetle larvae. Zero to do with maggots.
Josie Bisbano 3 years ago
Yeah, I also noticed the pictured larva isn't the kind of insect used for medical debridement. They're very small and also sterile, as in clean. They don't cause pain, either.
Load More Replies... Scary Laugh 3 years ago
I had this treatment in August! Couldn't feel a thing and they seriously improved my wounds!
Jaakko Wigelius 3 years ago
At least in finland, they use leeches to provoke blood flow on re-attached bodyparts. At least in fingers. Watched with amaze when dude that had cut his fingers off was on next to me bunk in hospital, and they put leeches vouple times per day to tip of the re-attached fingers. Really cool
Lou Cam 3 years ago
Yes the leech saliva is an anticoagulant and the sucking action of the leech pulls the blood through the damaged blood vessels. Amazing!
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Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
I don't think the grub shown would bother with minor wounds - it would just take off the affected limb whole.
#18
TIL The Xerox 914, the first commercially successful photocopier, came equipped with a 'scorch eliminator'. The scorch eliminator was actually just a fire extinguisher, which was required as the device commonly caught fire.
Waite Forit 3 years ago (edited)
Ah yes, Xerox. The company that invented the computer business and then gave it away.
Nathan Pogorzala 3 years ago
And the city of Rochester was forever damaged by that loss of income. And then of course Kodak failing.
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Gustav Gallifrey 3 years ago
A friend of mine worked in a place which had one of these copiers, operated by a young girl in a special room. He went to get her to make some copies for him, and while he was there, flames burst from the machine. He said that she casually grabbed the extinguisher, gave the fire a few blasts, cleared a paper jam, and carried on. Same old same old to her.
ShaZam Beaubien 3 years ago
I like that phrase ... scorch eliminator. We should use this phrase instead of firemen.
The ProGamer 3 years ago (edited)
Don't Xerox make paper now + l will now use the term 'scorch eliminator'.
Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
I can vouch for this. Our photocopy centre (c1965) had a dozen fire extinguishers and at any one time several would be away being refilled.
#19
TIL Lucky Charms were invented by a General Mills employee who chopped Circus Peanut candies into a bowl of Cheerios.
actaeon cross 3 years ago
My mom always bought Marshmallow Mateys so Lucky Charms always tasted weird to me
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Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 3 years ago
I'm not going to lie. I'm a grown adult in my early thirties and if somebody put a heaping bowl of sugary Lucky Charms in front of me, I would love every single bite of those squeaky marshmallows" and shockingly pink cereal milk.
Kookamunga 3 years ago
Circus peanuts are vile - like a baby aspirin flavored foam packing peanut. gross-6345...070cde.jpg 
Nathan Pogorzala 3 years ago
I live in the city where they are made and had a family friend who was the guy who forklifted the giant vats of the marshmallows from the production floor to the mixing floor and he would bring home giant bags of those marshmallows. It was great for about 20 minutes. You can still smell when they are producing the marshmallows all over the city. that part is pleasant.
wifeofweasley 3 years ago
I love the puffs in milk but the charms I only eat dry because I can't stand the texture of them once they get wet.
Beck 3 years ago
I love the marshmallows. Actually I expect to receive a package of dehydrated marshmallows in the mail TODAY for my hot chocolate!!!
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#20
TIL a Berlin-based artist tricked Google Maps into thinking that a completely empty street was bursting with traffic by filling a wagon with 99 smartphones, opening Maps navigation on all of them, and then slowly pulling the wagon along Berlin streets.
#21
TIL there is a species of mushroom that infects and zombifies carpenter ants. The mushroom slowly takes control of the ant’s motor functions and leads them away from the colony to die in a place ideal for growing. Then the mushroom grows out of the ant’s head.
Kookamunga 3 years ago
I looked this up - Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis is the name of the fungi/mushroom. Attached picture of infected ant. Whoa. zombie-ant...d65c5f.jpg 
TotallyNOTaFox 3 years ago
Not uncommon, even for us humans - the most common behaviour changing parasite for us would be Toxoplasma Gondii: It infects mice and makes them unafraid of cats to reach their intestines to reproduce. Can infect us as well and makes people more daring.
Lou Cam 3 years ago (edited)
It's rats it infects. Normally rats naturally avoid cat inhabited areas. Domestic cats being excellent at keeping rat colonies and their diseases away from humans even if they couldnt catch a wet leaf. However when infected by the toxoplasmosis gondii parasite, the rat is attracted to the cat smell instead. The poor creature walks right up to any cat it can find. This is because the parasite needs to finish it's life cycle in the cat, the eggs of the parasite being contained within the cat poop ready to infect rats directly or indirectly. Unfortunately humans can be exposed to the eggs in the cat poop and are then infected by the parasite. In healthy humans it has been shown to inhabit the brain and increase risk taking behaviour but not be otherwise harmful. However, in the unborn and those with immune deficiencies it can be deadly so pregnant women and the immunosuppressed are advised to avoid changing cat litter and to wear gloves when gardening to avoid infection.
Load More Replies... Java Addict 3 years ago
Cordyceps. The same thing that ravages the world in the The Last of Us video games.
Omiyaru 3 years ago (edited)
There are other mushroom doesnt do just ants I do think that it was the inspiration behindthe pokemon Paras and Parasect
Markus Holstein 3 years ago (edited)
There is also a parasite (forgot the name, unfortuantely) who resides in the digestive tract of cows, but starts its life cycle inside ants, manipulating them to climb to the tips of blades of grass so they'd get swallowed my grazing cows
#22
TIL Charles Darwin spent 6 months in South America looking for a lesser rhea (an ostrich-like bird) only to have one served to him for dinner. Halfway through the meal, Darwin realized what he was eating, gathered the parts and sent them to England for taxidermy and formal classification.
The ProGamer 3 years ago
Mmm, somethings different, but I can't put my finger on it
Load More Replies... CakeandNintendo 3 years ago
Seems like it would have been easier to ask them where they caught the thing and get a fresh one
ShaZam Beaubien 3 years ago
I'm sure the taxidermist's figured out what happened when they saw teeth marks on the specimen.
#23
TIL of "Target Fixation": a phenomenon where an individual becomes so focused on an observed object (be it a target, or hazard to be avoided) that they inadvertently increase their risk of colliding with the object.
Giles McArdell 3 years ago
Learnt this when learning to ride a motorbike, "look where you want to go, not at what you want to avoid"
The Other Guest 3 years ago
Similarly, when I was learning to ride a horse I was told, "Don't look at the ground, or that's where you'll end up."
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Jill Rhodry 3 years ago
This why you tell kids what they need to do instead of not do - eg. riding a bike: don't hit the tree - instead, go around the tree.
The Other Guest 3 years ago
No wonder George of the Jungle had so many problems smacking into trees...
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Dan Padgett 3 years ago
I was going to say. Look where you want to go, not at random shiz. When I first started, I had issues with cornering because I was looking at traffic, pedestrians etc.
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Glass Ghost 3 years ago
Reminds me of that story in 1895 when the only 2 cars in Ohio crashed in to each other!
Glass Ghost 3 years ago
Now that I did research, it's talking about the 2 cars thing being a hoax so now idk 😪
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Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 3 years ago
I feel like this is a well-known phenomenon amongst cyclists and white water paddlers/
#24
TIL Michelangelo created a sleeping Cupid figure and treated it with acidic earth to appear ancient. He then sold it to a dealer who then sold it to Cardinal Riario of San Giorgio who later learned of the fraud and demanded his money back. Michelangelo was permitted to keep his share of the money.
Thorsten Massow 3 years ago
Today a statue made by Michelangelo would be worth more than any ancient roman one.
Kristie French 3 years ago
Michelangelo is thought to have been a pedo. He was accused in multiple cities and ran out of multiple towns, the church protected him. Big surprise.
Shauna Voigt 3 years ago
They (da Vinci also) were run out due to homosexuality.
Load More Replies... #25
TIL about the lia radiological accident, where three Georgians discovered two abandoned radioactive sources in the forest around which "there was no snow for about a 1 m (3.3 ft) radius, and the ground was steaming", they then decided to use them as heat sources for the night. One died.
alias D. 3 years ago
Yes the snow doesn’t seem to be falling here in the ground is steaming, …let’s camp here for the night buddies!
tuzdayschild 3 years ago
Depending on the year, they may have been unfamiliar with the affects of radiation. Common knowledge now but…
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Josh Patterson 3 years ago
This was 2001 and occurred in Lia, Georgia (the country, not the American state) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lia_radiological_accident https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1660web-81061875.pdf
Josh Patterson 3 years ago
These devices were found in 2001. There were 8 of these devices lost, only 6 have been found. The story about how they were lost to time after the construction of the Hudoni hydroelectric plant is very cool!
Einar Kramer 3 years ago
Are they talking about the US state or the European republic of Georgia?
Load More Replies... Michelle C 3 years ago
Somehow the idea of using nuclear radiation for a heat source is not appealing at all!!
Josh Patterson 3 years ago
Ok, I'll stop now - such a cool story starts around page 14: https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1660web-81061875.pdf Untitled-6...bd-png.jpg 
#26
TIL that nearly all mammals, from mice to giraffes, have exactly 7 cervical vertebrae in their necks; the only exceptions are sloths and manatees.
Aaricia 3 years ago
They still have 7 in their neck. You confuse them with their back vertebrae. That's why they also miss a set of ribs.
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bottomless.abyss.of.bordem 3 years ago
Don't know why I always thought the plural was like platypusi
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guillaume vienne 3 years ago
I find it much more curious that every animal has 4 limbs (be it 2 legs and 2 arms or 2legs/2wings) with the exception of snakes (who used to have them).
The Other Guest 3 years ago
Mmmm, not quite. Most *vertebrates* have 4 limbs, but there are many *animals* who don't: sponges, corals, insects, arachnids, cetaceans, manatees, dugongs, legless lizards, and mollusks all come to mind.
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Thomas Bentley 3 years ago
but why is it that specifically sloths and manatees that have a different amount
Becky Samuel 3 years ago (edited)
Nobody knows that for sure, but the genetic switch for "7 cervical vertebrae" is very close to a gene that causes runaway cancer if it is moved, mutated or altered in any way. This makes it very difficult for evolution to affect the number of cervical vertebrae.
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Jerry Lane 3 years ago
Oh yes! This is true but in the case of the sloths it is even further unique: 3-toed sloths have 8 cervical vertebrae and 4-tied sloths have 6 cervical vertebrae!
Pieter LeGrande 3 years ago
I always knew my mum was wrong when she complained I was closely related to sloths.
#27
TIL: According to Guinness World Records, PATH, a mostly underground pedestrian walkway network in downtown Toronto, is the largest underground shopping complex in the world. PATH spans more than 30 kilometres of restaurants, shopping, services and entertainment.
Xenon 3 years ago (edited)
Seal the entrances, kill the zombies and have a great spot for the zombie apocalypse until the food runs out. Hopefully it has backup power.
Jonathan Elder 3 years ago
Underground city / shopping centre? That's where the zombie outbreak will start!
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Mahayana 3 years ago
We have the same thing in Montreal. I always thought that it was the biggest one. I used to go to work in -30degres in a t-shirt because my route was all underground.
Bored Seb 3 years ago
Reso in Montreal is 32 kms and was known for a very long time to be the longest underground network in the world... it sounds like Toronto just had 500 m to take the lead
Bored Seb 3 years ago
According to wikipedia, it still is... « Montreal, Quebec, Underground city, or la ville souterraine in French, is the largest underground network in the world. Its 32 km (20 mi) of tunnel cover more than 41 city blocks (about 12 km2 (5 sq mi)). »
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Alienking06 3 years ago (edited)
Hey, I got lost in there once! Long story short, I found some weird places by accident.
Esa Vienola 3 years ago
Yep, me too. I got lost and found myself in Barclay's Bank....I had ripped jeans and dirty T-shirt...Never was I escorted so fast and politely outta premises....
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Randolph Croft 3 years ago
It's also connected to tens of thousands of condos and apartments. You can leave your apt, travel for miles, get to work, in casual work attire, no winter coat or boots, and never get salt or snow or rain or ice on you. It's basically a Space Station without the rotation.
Miss Frankfurter 3 years ago
It’s really great. When I was in high school and we were downtown we could walk to wherever we needed to go in the comfort of a nice warm walkway. And also stayed dry when it rained. I used to go to a hairstylist in a salon there.
Kimberly Banow 3 years ago
No wonder I could never find the same way out of there during my lunch hours whenever I took a walk down there! 😆
Kim Irving 3 years ago
I've been lost there, it's HUGE and looks exactly the same all the way through.
#28
TIL one of the moons of Mars (Phobos) orbits Mars much faster than Mars rotates, and completes an orbit in just 7 hours and 39 minutes. From the surface of Mars it appears to rise in the west, move across the sky in 4 hours and 15 minutes, and set in the east, twice each Martian day.
Stardust she/her 3 years ago
It’s eventually going to deorbit and disintegrate to form rings around mars
ADHD McChick 3 years ago
Don't worry, you can see it again in a few hours.
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Peter Trudell Jr 3 years ago
and its orbit is decaying... so it will eventually either crash into Mars, or more likely, be pulled apart by tidal forces.
#29
TIL about a Brazilian Con artist called Carlos Kaiser, who had a decade long career as a Football player, and managed to sign for multiple teams, without player even one regular game. The one time he almost had to play, he started a fight during, to get a Red Card, avoiding to actually play.
Robert B 3 years ago
No kidding. I don’t know what they pay, but have you seen some of the contracts for American football? I’d break my own foot just to get the signing bonus and sit on the bench all season.
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DuchessDegu 3 years ago
There's a movie and a book about him, Kaiser! The Greatest Footballer Never to Play Football
Ali H M Salehuddin 3 years ago
Wouldnt he needed to attend practice sessions though? Surely coaches will notice his 'lack of abilities' there.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 3 years ago
He made friends in the off season with players (AKA patsies) on various teams. He was a great guy to party with but always seemed to be recovering from some injury (faked). His new friends would convince their club to sign him to a reserve contract, he'd never get healthy enough to play, and get cut. There were no MRIs to say his pulled hamstring was made up and he even had a dentist who would make up ailments for him. Patsy A would then mention to Patsy B that they were on the team with him and Patsy B would assume that meant he actually played. Once again, this was long enough ago that it was all word of mouth since people didn't have film/tape of their previous games.
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Atreïdes 3 years ago
He had a salary. Athletes would go broke if they got paid based on how many games they play in.
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#30
TIL Pope John Paul II forgave his attempted assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca who shot him four times in 1981. At the Pope's request, the Italian President pardoned Ağca of the crime and he was deported back to Turkey. Ağca requested to meet Pope Francis in 2014 but Francis chose to decline.
Maggie Fulton 3 years ago
There’s saintly and then there’s stupid. He chose not to be stupid.
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Jan Rosier 3 years ago
Pope did visit mr Agca in Italian prison, where was held for 19 years...
#31
TIL of a plane who made a forced landing on a Greenland ice cap in Nov. 1942. In attempting their rescue, 6 more planes either also stranded or crashed and it would take the survivors 5 and a half months of sheltering on the glacier until they were all rescued.
Jules Nin-sted 3 years ago
I present to you Murphy's Law, in action, again, and again, and again...
Noel Bovae 3 years ago
Good grief! Now there's a rabbit hole I'm quite interested in diving into!
Powerful Katrinka 3 years ago
There's an excellent book about this called Frozen in Time. More info at https://www.mitchellzuckoff.com/frozen-in-time.
Load More Replies... #32
TIL that a politician from the United Kingdom, John Bell, believed that he was a bird, stating that he could fly much better than a bird, because he kept his shoulders oiled. Despite his state of mind, he remained a Member of Parliament until his death in 1851.
tuzdayschild 3 years ago
I know. None of the politicians in my country oil their shoulders
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mark glass 3 years ago
I'd prefer a politician with oiled shoulders over all of the ones we have with greased palms. At worst, he'd only harm himself, rather than screw the rest of us.
#33
TIL that consumption of the Australian aquatic fern called Nardoo can cause you to starve if improperly prepared. The plant contains vast quantities of an enzyme that obliterates thiamine (vitamin B1), making your body unable to unlock energy from food, even if eating a full nutritious diet.
Monday 3 years ago
"OMG hun! You HAVE to try this new pill from "shitty MLM"! It's made from this totally organic aquatic fern from Australia and girl it will have you shedding those pounds like you won't believe! DM me for details boss babe <3" <---- some person in your Facebook chat.
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Skara Brae 3 years ago
But what if you mix just the right amount with chocolate?? No net calories!
#34
TIL: Prior to the D-Day landings, men were covertly sent ashore from submarines to collect samples of the sand to see whether it could support the weight of the tanks, trucks and other vehicles.
UKGrandad 3 years ago
Also, in preparation for the landings, the Allied forces ran practice landings on the Welsh coast. The boats carried no ammunition for their guns. Unfortunately, a German U-boat patrol spotted the exercise and sank many ships, killing a lot of servicemen at no risk to the German crews..
badger 3 years ago
the Devon coast - Operation Tiger. & E-boats, not U-boats.
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Doctor Theopolis 3 years ago
Seems like they already would have had a pretty good idea of what the beach was like on the other side of the Channel.
2WheelTravlr 3 years ago
The properties of sand can vary from one beach to the next, and some can support literally tons more weight than other varieties. Sand that's older and has very rounded grains creates almost a quicksand effect, never compacting. Newer sand has sharp edges which lock together to support heavier loads.
Load More Replies... #35
TIL about Narbacular Drop, a puzzle game made by students at DigiPen University of Technology, which emphasized the usage of portals to solve puzzles; the entire team was later hired by Valve Software and would go on to make Portal
I can't think of a good name 3 years ago (edited)
And portal 2( plz don't tell me the end) Edit: I have now.
Skara Brae 3 years ago
http://www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com/narbaculardrop.html?downloads.html
Helen Waight 3 years ago
It’s a fantastic game, but being a first person perspective and frequent changes of direction gives me bad motion sickness. I loved the story though.
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tuzdayschild 3 years ago
I don’t know why but it seems peculiar to me that people in the 1500s were collecting antiques. I know they did but it seems odd.
Mark Fuller 3 years ago
Just played Portal 2 again, after however many years. It's soooo dated. But bloody hilarious, challenging and awesome fun. Love it. We need another one in the series!!
#36
TIL it took around 3 billion years for the very first single-celled organisms to eventually evolve into basic animal life forms. For comparison, dinosaurs were around for about 165 million years, modern humans have been around for 300,000 years.
Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
And still some people think that a cat not turning into a dog means evolution doesn't exist.
Noel Bovae 3 years ago
Wow, I'm lost for words! Those people, literally, have no idea how evolution works.
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mark glass 3 years ago
Too many people are trying to disprove evolution by acting in ways that make it appear to be reversible.
Tim Anderson 3 years ago
Proven? How is it proven? The Book is about Faith, not proof.
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Vicki Perizzolo 3 years ago
and we've managed to screw up the entire system in less than 200 years..
Izzy Curer 3 years ago (edited)
It's debateable. There are some rocks in Australia that some scientists think are the fossils of stromatolites, or at least layers of biofilm. Other scientists think they're just squiggly rocks, possibly just minerals laid down as sediment, that got folded and crumpled over time. If they are actually fossils of living cells, it pushes the timeframe of when life started much earlier than we previously thought.
#37
TIL the US Navy has a 'Fleet Admiral' rank which only four people have ever achieved. It includes the unique benefit of active duty pay for life.
STress 3 years ago
Also, General of the Army, who are a bit more common. The last promoted was General Mark Clark in 1950. Also, both of the ranks are "war-only", which means that Clark was (probably) the last, since any declaration of war is treated as war crime, more or less.
Peign Gaming 3 years ago
Clark was never the rank of General of the Army, it was General Omar Bradley who was appointed in 1950.
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AliJanx 3 years ago
5-Star. Leahy, King, Nimitz, Halsey. Appointments. No officer has been appointed to the rank of fleet admiral since Halsey. The rank is still maintained in the USN.
Andy Frobig 3 years ago
They wanted to give it to Spruance too, but would have had to leave out Halsey, so Spruance turned it down.
Load More Replies... Two_rolling_black_eyes 3 years ago
It was created in WW2 so the US would have someone leading our naval forces who was equivalent rank to the other allies. Congress also carefully planned the promotions so they would be 1 day before a general would be promoted to an equivalent rank in the Army. This was to ensure that, as had happened in the past, a general couldn't claim they outranked the fleet carrying them and force them to go places the navy knew they shouldn't go. There was a hiccup in that Gen MacArthur was promoted the day between Admirals King and Nimitz and MacArthur repeatedly attempted, and sometimes succeeded, in strong arming forces under Nimitz to do "strategically less than optimal" things in the Pacific theater.
Fred L. 3 years ago
Reaching the rank of Admiral, then being so intrumental and/or succesful in a major war that congress decides to put that rank on you.
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lara 3 years ago
George Washington was made a 7 star general in 1976, there are only two six star generals Washington and Gen. Pershing, 5 star generals were George C Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower [restored by Kennedy after he became President], Omar Bradley, and Henry H Arnold who later became the only five star general in the Air Force.
Impetus 3 years ago
They never, ever offer a deal like that unless the government is getting the best of it. Not to anyone who isn't already wealthy, anyway. I dunno what you had to do to get that, but it must've sucked.
Andy Frobig 3 years ago
In a military that's famous for $11,000 toilet seats, it's not that big an expense. Mostly you have to be really good at sending young folks off to kill and die. Dwight Eisenhower was a General of the Army without spending a day in combat but he commanded generals who commanded officers who commanded enlisteds who helped beat Hitler.
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#38
TIL in 1981 Chicago mayor Jane Byrne moved into the crime ridden Cabrini–Green public housing project in an attempt to improve its reputation. Despite having bodyguards she left just a few weeks later, furthering the public perception of Cabrini–Green as the "worst of the worst" in the city.
Rannveig Ess 3 years ago
She didn't really stay there. It was all a political stunt and Theatre. She made much ado about doing this to pander to the African-American people and get the Black Vote. Cabirini Green was always known as "the worst", - gangs, drugs, crime, abject poverty. There were many "Housing Projects" that were all, every one, horrific places to live because they were run and taken over by gangs and the nice people who lived there were held hostage in these slums. They demolished many of them. The gangs and jerks then moved into the surrounding city and suburbs and this started the massive crime and drug issues there are all over now. Byrne, while a feisty lady, did that just for the optics and so she could make her "discovery" into a re-election issue. That everyone already knew.
Rob Chapman 3 years ago
Every city seems to have (or had) a "Cabrini-Green". San Francisco had Geneva Towers, which were well known as the most dangerous buildings in the entire city. Many cities have since demolished these public high rises and replaced them with town houses or row houses.
Bad Alchemy 3 years ago
True dat. Los Angeles had Hawaiian Gardens. Gone now, but there are others just as bad.
Load More Replies... Amaranthim Talon 3 years ago
Hmm.. wonder if Mayor Lightfoot would venture there? Nah- too busy kareoking the night away while Chicago burns...
crizz 1066 3 years ago
And the same seems to be still happening in Chicago, as its nasty nasty mayor sits back while it all falls apart.
#39
TIL Throughout much of the 20th century, a majority of states once required a blood test (mostly for STIs) before issuing a couple a marriage license.
kraftmacaroniandbeez 3 years ago
in my country it's still required (to prove couple isn't related and to inform them about rh factor compatibility)
Mir Adwari 3 years ago
Why still with the rh factor when that can be handled with treatment now? Would they stop people from marrying when it can be dealt with? What if they don't want children? I know there are places that still require it for STI screening (eg UAE) but can't find any information on any that do it to prove a couple isn't related anymore.
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Erin Geiger 3 years ago
My husband and I got married in 2014, my mom asked a couple weeks before the wedding if we'd done our blood test done. Had to remind her that's not a thing anymore.
Suanne Burk 3 years ago
I thought it was because of the risks associated with rh neg people having babies with rh pos people. Now they have treatment, but they didn’t always
Liam Walsh 3 years ago
It was started due to increasing rates of syphilis. Other tests might have been added later. including the rh test. They can now test during pregnancy and, as you say, there is treatment.
Load More Replies... Billy Harrelson 3 years ago
Yes. This is the reason my mother had to go to South Carolina in 1961 to marry her first husband because it would have taken too long in North Carolina because of the test. I'm pretty sure my brother said he had to take the test when he got married... in 1983.
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Gretchen Esquilin 3 years ago
That's why people around where I grew up would elope in MD b/c they didn't require the tests.
DragonflyGreen 3 years ago
When I got married in Pennsylvania USA, we had to get a blood test. Years later, when I got married in Tennessee USA, it was not required.
Lauren S 3 years ago
I was married in PA in 2014, no blood test required, so it doesn’t seem like a current rule there anymore.
Load More Replies... Kurtis Karr 3 years ago
Yup. My wife and I had to have one. It was for syphilis but they couched it in language where you thought it was for incompatible blood type or something.
#40
TIL Some flying insects have biologic versions of gyroscopes. The haltere is a small bell like structure that vibrates and can account for changes in rotation using the Coriolis effect, so the insect knows its position and can make corrections.
Mike Crow 3 years ago
But but I thought they said the earth was flat??? That must mean that insects are a hoax or holograms or other nonsense lol
#41
TIL the Navajo Nation owns the trademark name Navajo and settled a lawsuit with Urban Outfitters after the latter sold Navajo Hipster Panties and Navajo Print Flasks.
Kookamunga 3 years ago
I thought this couldn't be true.... Navajo-Hip...77-png.jpg 
SirPatTheCat 3 years ago
I believe it was referring to the style of underwear...hipster as in it sits on your hips
Load More Replies... #42
TIL In 2020, a Pakistan airlines Airbus tried to land with the landing gear still up. It then crashed, killing 97. An investigation later found that 150 of the 434 pilots for the airline had bogus or suspicious flying licences.
sofacushionfort 3 years ago
I wonder what the percentage of unqualified drivers are on the roads at any given time
Joshua Moon 3 years ago
I'm my area. About 85-90% depending on if it's the morning commute or the evening commute.
Load More Replies... Joshua Moon 3 years ago
I always wanted to be a pilot. Are they hiring. hachacha, I'll see myself out
#43
TIL The band Redbone, who played the 70’s hit “Come and Get Your Love” (repopularized by “Guardians of the Galaxy”), was the first successful rock group formed by Native Americans.
Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
Native American heritage, yeah. The brothers who started the group claimed to be Native Americans, but were Mexican Americans, claiming Yagui blood. One member had part Native blood and only one member was truly Native American (Cheyenne to be precise). It was just a PR stunt to call themselves Native Americans.
censorshipsucks 3 years ago
but mexicans have native american ancestry as well as spanish, so if they're partial I think it's ok. A bit like how americans call persons who contain any african blood 'african american'.
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#44
TIL in 2016 a man ate a ghost pepper in an eating contest and drank 6 glasses of water to cool off. He vomited so much he tore a hole in his esophagus and was rushed to a hospital where doctors found his left lung collapsed. He spent 23 days in the hospital and was sent home with a gastric tube.
Monday 3 years ago
You'd think someone would at least tell him that water is pretty useless before he got through 6 glasses. They should have just offered him a glass of milk or cup of yogurt....
Chris 3 years ago
Unfortunately that is more or less an urban myth! Milk, Yoghurt, Cream etc. only covers the mucosa and thereby the receptors, it does not neutralise capsaicin, so unless you wash out your mouth, the milk only delays the effect. And you will still end up with the same amount of capsaicin in your stomach… But drinking that much water was not a good idea, simply because you increase you volume you will vomit!
Load More Replies... François Bouzigues 3 years ago
Have you tried tuna cans ? Mines would eagerly have their pills when wet with tuna oil (knowing that tuna bits would eventually be granted if the pill was eaten properly. Took very little teaching in our case.
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Agnes Jekyll 3 years ago
Honestly, poor guy. That's terrible. I'm surprised the people who ran the contest, I hope, never did it again.
#45
TIL the capstone of an ancient Egyptian pyramid was found in 1900, it's made of black basalt and weighs 4.5 tonnes
Fred L. 3 years ago
This one (the Pyramidion of Amenemhat III) apparently is taller with 1.4 meters.
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#46
TIL about Bactrian camels, a species native to the steppes of Central Asia. They can withstand temperatures ranging from -30 to +50 Celsius! Their habitat includes arid desert, stony plains, and sand dunes.
Kookamunga 3 years ago
I looked them up, they are beautiful! Bactrian-c...10766e.jpg 
Timmy Pillinger 3 years ago
You can cross breed the two types of camel to get a very large, and very tough one hump camel.
#47
TIL that there was a group that created a sperm bank exclusively containing the semen of Nobel Prize winners in hopes of selectively birthing the next generation of geniuses.
Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
Good try. We need more smart people, but I think nurture does more than nature in this case. Children with access to good education, hobbies/clubs and tutoring do a lot better than their poor counterparts, no matter the IQ.
Kristina Šob 3 years ago
I think, if natural selection make sense in animal kingdom, it also affects humanity in some way. We are also animal specie after all...
Load More Replies... Markus Holstein 3 years ago
They tried to create a sperm bank with Nobel Prize sperm only, but not enough Nobel Prize laureates agreed to, uhm, deliver. So they had to lower their standarts to "regular" scientists, and then even further to PhD students, and then to anyone approaching them claiming to be smart https://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2469-oops-my-genius-sperm-donor-dad-was-actually-mental-case.html
Java Addict 3 years ago
I read the story of a guy who was the result of this. He thought his donor was a doctor but he was a college student who had claimed to have a genius IQ (they didn’t, but the people at the bank didn't check). He was schizophrenic and many of his children were as well.
Giles McArdell 3 years ago
There was a documentary about this, they tracked down some of the kids. There did seem to be a higher general IQ but there was no indication that the drive and ambition of the Nobel winners had come through with the genes.
HellyHacka 3 years ago
Are all Nobel prize winners members of MENSA? Surely it makes more sense (not that this approach makes more sense at all, though you'd get more sperm) than this :/
Nicola Mawson 3 years ago
My kid is super smart, and thriving in the school to which she won a scholarship
Enuya 3 years ago
Great. Mine speaks fluently in three languages at the age of barely 5 months, also reads chemistry books on PhD level as a hobby.
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#48
TIL William Stoughton, the chief judge of the Salem Witch Trials, sentenced 19 men and women to death during the trials despite not having any training, or education, in law.
Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
You don't need to have any knowledge of law if you are accusing people of using magic. As if there is any law dealing with stuff that doesn't even exist.
Markus Holstein 3 years ago
It was the 17th century. I'm pretty sure they did have laws banning witchcraft back then (England had so till 1735)
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Nikki Sevven 3 years ago
The 20th person was Giles Corey. He was being tortured by the application of millstones atop his chest. When they demanded he confess to witchcraft, he replied, "More weight." The weight killed him.
Panda For Scale 3 years ago
Also, the Salem Witch Trials came about because a group of adolescent girls were bored at a sleepover. No one was actually burned at the stake in Salem, but the people were unalived in horrific manners.
Lynn Morello 3 years ago
The problem is, people don't understand what Witchcraft is Like most things, What things they don't understand scares the hell out of them.
#49
TIL that it is unknown why the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Norway despite the other Nobel Prizes being awarded in Sweden. Alfred Nobel, who the awards were established in memory of, said that it should be that way in his will and gave no explanation as to why
Elin Stenqvist 3 years ago (edited)
It's not that mysterious. It's true that Alfred Nobel didn't specify *why* but it's not that hard to figure it out. Sweden and Norway was one country at the time (or union) and Norway was the more peaceful/less war prone of the two.
#50
TIL, when Wilt Chamberlain shot his 100-point game, he did so shooting his free throws underhand (e.g. "granny style"). He later switched back to overhand, even though it made his percentage go way down, just so he wouldn't look silly.
Aunt Riarch 3 years ago
I did read in a comic that overarm bowling in cricket was invented by a girl because her crinoline got in the way of underarm, her brothers found it was better, and the rest is history. I have no idea if this is true, but I doubt it
#51
TIL out of 465 documented cases of medical self-experimentation, 8 cases resulted in the self-experimenter’s death. 7 resulted in their winning a Nobel Prize. Another 5 won a Nobel for unrelated work.
Buren 3 years ago
See kids, moral of the story is experimenting on yourself could give higher chance of winning Nobel prize than death.
#52
TIL about the Attack of the Dead Men, a WWI battle where chlorine and bromine gas poisoning gave Russian soldiers the appearance of zombies. Russia won the battle when their appearance frightened off the attacking Germans.
Nianudd 3 years ago
"Turmoil at the front, Wilhelms forces on the hunt. Theres a thunder in the east, it's an attack of the deceased"
#53
TIL that the height of the British empire was only 100 years ago. In 1922, British rule covered around a quarter of all land on Earth and ruled 458,000,000 people, at the time around a quarter of Earth's population.
Rachel Grig 3 years ago
And here we are, 100 years later and monarchy is on the verge of becoming completely irrelevant.
Dill 3 years ago
It is irrelevant really and many in the UK are no longer supportive. However, it is still popular among the older age groups - which isn't really a surprise (mainly the ones that voted for Brexit as well). I suspect that Royalty won't last much longer in their current form. The King is merely a figurehead already and of little real importance. Their relevance remains only in that their support of charitable endeavours is actually useful to those particular charities and as an ambassadorial function to foster diplomatic relations. Foreign leaders still seemed to see a lot of value in meeting with the Queen, remains to be seen if that continues with Charles and co.
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Tams21 3 years ago
And yet we're still holding on to the Chagos Islands, despite the UN ruling against it.
Dilly Millandry 3 years ago
I thought it was The Permanent Court of Arbitration - which is a non-UN intergovernmental organization. In 2003 the UK government established an Environment (Protection and Preservation) Zone under Article 75 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea extending 200 nautical miles from the islands. There is controversy admittedly, yet a collaboration of nine leading conservation and scientific organisations seeking to protect the rich biodiversity of the Chagos Archipelago and its surrounding waters cites several reasons for supporting it as a protected area.
Load More Replies... Vix Spiderthrust 3 years ago
Er...it was still going at the time of World War II, so more like seventy-five years ago.
Becky Samuel 3 years ago
The *height* of the empire. Reading is important.
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#54
TIL Bobby Brown was kidnapped by New York street gang "the Preacher Crew" over a $25,000 drug debt in 1993 and Whitney Houston paid a $400,000 ransom to the gang, who threatened to kill him. The incident was never reported to authorities.
Carla Phillips 3 years ago
It was her husband! Of course she paid, it's her husband! Even if other commentors don't care for him and think it was "a waste of money", I bet they would do the same for their spouse, no matter how anyone else felt about them. No one can possibly understand the thought process of another having not lived their experiences.
#55
TIL in 2014 in Greece a woman was falsely declared dead & buried alive. Kids playing near the cemetery heard her screams; she died of asphyxia. In 2015 in the same area of Greece a 49 year old woman was buried alive & her family heard her scream after burial. She died of a heart failure.
censorshipsucks 3 years ago
OK so moral of the story: greeks please CHECK people are in FACT dead.
Kostas Tsen 3 years ago
If you can hear someone scream 2 meters under the dirt, you know they can scream very loud. That makes you wonder if it was a mistake after all..
#56
TIL A healthy person's average sleep latency (the amount of time it takes to transition from wakefulness to sleep) is only between 10 and 20 minutes.
Monday 3 years ago
I've been up for 3 hours and working for 2 of those and I'm still not awake.
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FabulousMari 3 years ago
What's the average for an unhealthy, middle aged working mom? 18 years or so?
tuzdayschild 3 years ago
About 5 minutes or less for me. When I lay down, my body’s like, “yeah girl!”
Arthur Waite 3 years ago
My Doctor asked about that, one time. Then he pointed out that fast-sleep is one evidence of sleep apnea. Tested, sure enough. Check it out.
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Alex Travous 3 years ago
Meanwhile it takes me about a minute to fall asleep when I don't want to sleep.
Michelle C 3 years ago
From what I understand that’s usually the case for me. There have been days where I have been up for up to three hours after I try to go to bed due to anxiety or other circumstances!!
KING ILLEGAL FOREST 3 years ago
I can only achieve sleep with sedatives. Unless I somehow manage to find employment that matches my naturally nocturnal sleep cycle. :/
Dan Padgett 3 years ago
I easily pass out most of the time. Anxiety used to keep me up, I didn't know this and thought it was totally normal to take hours to fall asleep.
#57
TIL that British prisoners were considered unsuitable for farm labour as being "particularly arrogant to the local population" and "particularly well treated by the womenfolk"
Abnus 2 years ago (edited)
By brkh47:Very interesting and at times a quite funny report going back to 1943. . . . . . . . . . . Although a large proportion of British prisoners in Germany come from ordinary working classes, a large number of them speak impeccable and fluent German. ... Broadly speaking, the British do just enough work to avoid being penalised; . . . . . . . You get the impression the Germans were reluctant admirers of the Brits.
#58
TIL there is a Greek-style statue of George Washington that depicts him bare-chested and with muscular figure. It is housed as the Smithsonian.
Kookamunga 3 years ago
Here it is - sculpted in 1832 by Horatio Greenough GW-smithso...8f00ad.jpg 
#59
TIL coconuts were "relatively common" in medieval England. In one instance from 1259, the Master of Sherborn Hospital willed a coconut cup to his niece.
Wilf 3 years ago
Yes, but not in the modern sense of the word. The word derives from Latin hospitalis- meaning being concerned with hosting guests or people who need shelter. In medieval times they were usually monastic institutions acting in various combinations of almshouses for the elderly, hostels for pilgrims, or refuges for the sick and vulnerable (most usually lepers who had to be kept permanently separate from the general population).
Load More Replies... #60
TIL Before toilet paper, people used corn husks, sea sponges, and even a scraping technique with seashells after using the bathroom.
MotherofGuineaPigs 3 years ago
I still wondered what was up with the three sea shells...
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Arliss Speace 3 years ago
When we would visit my mom's relatives in a small town in North Carolina they had "indoor out houses" where a toilet would be enclosed with plywood on the back.porch of house. Old Sears catalog pages were used instead of toilet paper. Not everyone, but many of the older folks.
Data1001 3 years ago
Yep, I've used the pages of a Sears catalog in an outhouse. You crumple them up a bit to make them "softer" before using. Still, I think a corncob would be gentler -- and probably far more effective (if you don't mind a bit of leftover corn stuck between your cheeks).
Load More Replies... Arthur Waite 3 years ago
So that's why She sells sea-shells by the sea-shore! I always wondered.
FabulousMari 3 years ago
"He sells TP by the toilet..." never really caught on for a nursery rhyme
Load More Replies... Kookamunga 3 years ago
Yes, stripped corn cobs soaked in water to soften them were very popular.
Brandi Delph 3 years ago
Read an interesting article once about the Silk Road. The part i remember best is how many diseases spread by traders through the use of, er, "poop stick." The sticks were used for wiping, then cast aside. Then other traders, some time later, would unknowingly pick up a used stick. Also, the first commercial toilet paper also came with a danger of splinters in delicate places
Izzy Curer 3 years ago (edited)
I recall coming across various references to bidets, water washing techniques, and using cloths during the covid times.
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Jean Thompson 3 years ago
I've read that medieval kings used to use the neck of a goose or swan, due to their feather softness. Whether the goose was alive, (and therefore "reuseable") or dead, during the process wasn't recorded ...
#61
TIL a tool bag weighing 30 lbs and worth $100,000 was accidentally dropped by astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper during a spacewalk in 2008. The bag subsequently re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and burned up in 2009.
Peign Gaming 3 years ago
And could have probably picked those same tools up for $39.95 at Home Depot.
#62
TIL that perhaps the most famous female American poet, Emily Dickinson, only had 10 poems published of the roughly 1,800 she composed
Agnes Jekyll 3 years ago
yes, she didn't send many to be published. After she died, two of her friends edited and published them.
Load More Replies... #63
TIL: Cartier owner Richemont bought back and destroyed £400million of its watches to prevent them from being sold at a discount
crizz 1066 3 years ago
Yet anti-capitalist woke celebrities who cry about global warming, will still do advertising for them!!!
censorshipsucks 3 years ago
well to my mind this proves that the watches were worth less than the discounted price.
CakeandNintendo 3 years ago
That should be illegal, consider it waste and polluting and fine them 3x what it would have sold originally not discounted
#64
TIL that candies such as candy corn, whoppers and milk duds are covered in an insect secretion
Chrissie Anit 3 years ago
honey is also an insect secretion, and we eat it with gusto. Same as milk (in the broader sense).
Skara Brae 3 years ago (edited)
Yup, secretions of the lac bug (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerriidae). If anyone is interested, Lac is sometimes used to protect leather. Coincidently, some candies have a coating of Carnauba wax, which comes from a palm tree. It's also good for protecting leather. Lac is shinier and harder than Carnaubba wax. Probably useless information, but it's free. You all know about carmine and Castoreum, right? At least these are all natural.
Francesca Annoni 3 years ago
And also the color...cochineal red is a food coloring from another insect..
Orange Is Aging 3 years ago
JSJAUABAJSHAIOA9MSJHXUSHSUSBSBSHISMSHSHSBAIANCOQBBSIANDI)SUSMBXUBAJDISBJSNAUSBJDHS8N ABSOLUTELY NOT
#65
TIL: Low carb, high protein diets "greatly" decrease resting testosterone levels in men.
I'm.Just.A.Girl 3 years ago
I think resting here could mean.. and I'm just guessing.. during normal circumstances. When someone isn't participating in any exercise or serious movement. I could be totally wrong too.
Becky Samuel 3 years ago
Yes. Resting. Testosterone levels will vary depending on excercise levels.
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VM37 3 years ago
TIL Snoopy is a beagle. Saw it on a little boy tshirt at the doctors waiting room.
tuzdayschild 3 years ago
I used to have a beagle that slept on top of her dog house. I thought that was something Charles Schultz made up but I guess it's a beagle trait.
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VM37 3 years ago
TIL Snoopy is a beagle. Saw it on a little boy tshirt at the doctors waiting room.
tuzdayschild 3 years ago
I used to have a beagle that slept on top of her dog house. I thought that was something Charles Schultz made up but I guess it's a beagle trait.
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