› added 13 years ago

144

TIL that Jimmy Carter is behind the impending demise of the Guinea Worm, one of mankind’s oldest and most painful (and gross) parasites.

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16wgd TIL After Poland was partitioned between the European powers in the late 18th century, the Ottoman and Persian Empires were the only countries in the world to not accept it, with the Ottomans maintaining a Polish ambassador
8a4VG TIL: When Lawrence of Arabia was killed in a motorcycle accident in May 1935, his doctor, Hugh Cairns, realized that his life might have been saved had Lawrence been wearing a helmet. Cairns introduced crash helmets for military dispatch riders, thereby reducing fatalities by 50%.
Z8ybD TIL that in 1862 President Lincoln had to politely decline an offer from the king of Siam to send the United States a herd of elephants for use in the Civil War against the Confederacy.
ADV5l TIL that a GHS study in 2019 by John Hopkins CHS and NTI placed the US as the nation most prepared for a pandemic
VBJyk TIL New Orleans was the wealthiest city in the US during 1830-1840. By the 1860's, New Orleans had the 3rd largest port in the nation and was 2nd overall in per capita income in the US.