› added 1 year ago

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TIL that Poinsettias come from Mexico. The Aztecs call them (Nahuatl language) cuetlaxochitl ̶ xochitl. The name Poinsettia, is in honour of Joel Roberts Poinsett, a US envoy in Mexico City who introduced the plant to the US and Europe.

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41RR TIL that there is a large tarantula that keeps small frogs that it uses as bodyguards to protect its eggs.
oBPm7 TIL That the white paint on the base of trees helps prevent cracking and splitting of new bark, and highlights insect infestation.
1067 TIL when nothing newsworthy would happen in the 1930’s, the BBC would simply announce “There is no news” and play piano music instead.
oB188 TIL the birds in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie ‘The Birds’ were fed a mixture of wheat and whiskey. It was the only way to get them to stand around so much instead of flying away
oL1r TIL John Wayne Gacy’s former attorney, Sam Amirante, who heard Gacy’s original confession to over 30 murders, later went on to author the Missing Child Recovery Act of 1984 which removed the 72-hour waiting period to begin the search for a missing child.