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TIL Original hosts usually have low death rates when infected with a pathogen, with fatality rates tending to be much higher in new hosts

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Q5re TIL that in Ancient Rome a slave would continuously whisper ‘Remember you are mortal’ in the ears of victorious generals as they were paraded through the streets after coming home, triumphant, from battle.
9YgX TIL that the University of Iowa’s locker room for visiting football teams is completely painted pink
4Xd4J TIL "red telephone", a direct line between DC and Moscow, isn't really a phone line and no phones were ever used. It went from teletype to fax machines. Since 2008, it's a secure form of email.
9YPyQ TIL the defense mechanism of the American Opossum, "Playing Dead", is an involuntary action. The opossum will seize up, evacuate bowels, and excrete "dead thing" smell from a gland
awrx0 TIL that in the early 1900's, avocados were known as "alligator pears." In attempt to make the fruit (yes, they are fruits) more marketable to the American consumer, they were re-named avocado which derives from the Aztec word for testicle.