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TIL of the Tea-Horse-Road. During Imperial-era, the Chinese noticed that Tibetans prized tea so much, they would trade high-quality horses for tea-bricks. As they needed warhorses to fight nomads, the Chinese set up a government office to sell tea for Tibetan horses, creating the Tea-Horse Road.

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pY4dQ TIL: In 2008, Doritos held a competition to create a commercial to send to space. They sent "tribe" - where escaped Doritos worship a salsa jar (possible chip sacrifice involved) to Ursa Major for 6 hours using a space station in the Arctic Circle. 61% of those surveyed thought "its a start"
N7eWM TIL that Domino's Pizza stopped their "30 minutes or it's free" pledge after a major lawsuit that made it appear as if their drivers were reckless.
78eWp TIL the earliest known reference to a red carpet is from 458 BC, in an Ancient Greek play. After defeating Troy, the king Agamemnon is welcomed home w/ a carpet of crimson tapestries & silk. He's uncomfortable with it, since to him, only gods walk on such luxury, while mortals should be more humble
KWZ9 TIL the term “Chronic” (in relation to Marijuana) originates from Snoop Dogg mistaking the term “hydroponic” for “hydrochronic” when he was first introduced to indoor-grown marijuana in the early 90’s
8aJKZ TIL From the 1950s until the 1970s, vending machines were used at American airports to sell life insurance policies covering death, in the event that the buyer's flight crashed