› added 10 years ago

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TIL that one of the first scientists to discover nitrous oxide completely missed its use as an anesthetic because he ended up just using it to get high (having first experimented on it to see if it could cure hangovers)

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e95E TIL that the bad spelling in email scams is intentional and there to weed out the more educated recipients.
8MyK TIL Caligula was not his real name. Germanicus’ troops called him “Caligula” as a boy, meaning “Little Boots” or “Booties.” The nickname stuck and he hated it.
RnAa TIL, that ancient sloths were as big as rhinos. They were only exceeded in size by mammoths in other land mammals. There eventual extinction was due to human hunters.
nE6B TIL There are cults in the South Pacific that believe if they paint USA on their chest and make wooden guns, that god will rain cargo from the skies
ANKDl TIl that it is impossible to actually sink in quicksand.