› added 2 years ago

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TIL North America almost broke apart but didn't and ended up with the largest non-sea rift in the world

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56o8 TIL Gaius gracchus, the ancient roman politician, had a bounty put on his head to the price of the head’s weight in gold. Although the head was delivered, the prize was never paid, as it was discovered that Gaius’ captor had emptied out his brain and replaced it with molten lead.
b6J9j TIL around 2,000 mentally ill WW2 veterans were lobotomized against their will for things such as PTSD, depression and homosexuality
5VNM9 TIL that a release of radioactive material in a nuclear waste repository in New Mexico in 2014 was caused by someone substituting inorganic with organic kitty litter.
j6Vxj TIL about "breakage" - money left on gift cards indefinitely, which the issuers eventually claim as revenue. In 2021, Starbucks reaped $181million from unused giftcards.
e0rA5 TIL Iceland has a genealogy book containing details of every Icelander going back as far as the 9th century