› added 8 years ago

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TIL that because salt was so highly valued in the ancient world, the modern word for “salary” is derived from the latin word for salt.

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lopa1 TIL: Viruses evolve differently to adapt to their mode of transmission. A water-borne virus (e.g. cholera) is virulent because fecal matter can transmit to care-givers. OTOH, droplet-borne viruses (flu, SARS) become less virulent over time to create more ambulatory carriers for transmission.
BgrQb TIL that the avant-guard Jazz musician Sun Ra is considered one the 20th centuries most prolific musical artists, having written over a thousand tracks.
ADmRx TIL about four museums that focus solely on cats: one in Malaysia; one in the Netherlands, one in Lithuania, and one in the US. There's also a museum in the US dedicated to Maneki Neko (Lucky Cat) statues.
neGeG TIL A soviet defector predicted the current state of America 40 years ago (cultural decline, marxism, socialism) It was all carefully planned. "Our goal was to demoralize people so completely that they would deny fact, of course these people would be purged once the socialist goal was accomplished"
XEgKk TIL 10.2% of Milwaukee eats fish fry on a friday night