› added 5 years ago

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TIL of Silphium, a plant from classic antiquity that was so valuable that it was supposedly overharvested to extinction. The plant only grew in a narrow coastal area in Cyrenaica (Libya). It was widely used as seasoning, perfume, as an aphrodisiac, and medicine.

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VMRwk TIL: Before computerized mechanisms in cars, the clicking you hear in turn signals used to come from a heated spring mechanism — that was designed, both to produce the click, and to activate the exterior bulbs themselves.
KOd96 TIL a child, Bobby Dunbar, disappeared at age 4, then was "found" in another state with different parents. Investigators took the child, returning him to the Dunbars. Years later, DNA revealed it was the wrong kid.
16X0P TIL that because of moist, isolated conditions ancient bat poop in caves is still wet and gooey and can be collected and tested to tell about ancient ecosystems. Things like small insect parts and plants are still present and discernible in the wet mounds sometimes dozens of feet thick.
7JeX TIL in 1999 BMX legend Mat Hoffman flew to Canada to have his ACL replaced. He chose to do so without any anesthesia and even helped the doctor steady the drill as it went through the bone. He was walking and back on his bike 6 days later.
697Jm TIL Boer Commandos / Kommandos of what is now South Africa were civilian units of guerilla militia that ran parallel to British troops & were re-formed, conscripted to, & disbanded several times (last was 2005). Entire families in district command, control of taxes & fighting in rough terrain.