› added 12 years ago

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TIL that tribes in the Amazon are using technology like GPS and Google Earth to map their lands, monitor for illegal logging and mining, and maintain ties to their history and cultural traditions including knowledge of medicinal plants

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J1aXm TIL in order to prevent certain legal instruments from operating in perpetuity, a Royal Lives Clause may be written into a contract which provides a definite but extended period of time usually tied to twenty-one years past the death of last living descendent of the current British monarch.
oRM5r TIL that "Lucifer" originally referred to a personified aspect of the planet Venus, and only acquired its current religious connotation when the Hebrew Book of Isaiah equated the king of Babylon with said Venusian aspect
WoWB TIL Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece Starry Night depicts the view outside his sanitarium window, and that he was not impressed with the now beloved work
pLEN TIL - A guy amended a credit card contract to include 0% interest and an unlimited credit line and large fees to be paid to him if the bank didn’t uphold it. The bank agreed to the terms, then later tried to cancel his account. A judge upheld the amended contract.
J11b8 TIL that in the 1950’s Dr. Curt Richter conducted a series of tests with rats in which the first set drowned in water after 15min. But the next set were dried off and placed back in the water and remained alive and swimming for up to 60hrs. Showing that idea of “hope” can keep them alive longer.