› added 4 months ago

16

TIL that a British-born man from San Francisco named Joshua Norton declared himself "Emperor of the United States" in 1859.

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YZ7 TIL there was one US Congress member killed in the line of duty, Leo Ryan. He was gunned down while attempting to help families escape Peoples Temple right before the Jonestown Massacre.
8axX8 TIL Researchers at Yale cooked 4000-year old Babylonian stews from recipes written on ancient clay tablets, including a stew made from onion and leeks, beets, and broth of lamb
jpJQ TIL that 71 years before Rosa Parks, Ida B. Wells refused to give up her seat on a train and was thrown off by a group of white men. She later cofounded the NAACP but was kept off the list of founders by W.E.B. Du Bois.
nJLG TIL that Japanese people don’t wear surgical masks because they’re afraid of germs but becuase they’re sick and don’t want to spread their own germs to others out of consideration.
Me5OV TIL that we don't actually know how general anesthetics work, or how they are able to induce unconsciousness without shutting down other body or brain functions