› added 8 years ago

162

TIL that you should not use flame or salt to remove a leech, as it may regurgitate its stomach contents into the wound.

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m1dQy TIL NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft, which flew by Pluto in 2015, carries onboard a portion of the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto. Also onboard (among other things) are a nylon American Flag, a 1991 postage stamp that reads "Pluto: Not Yet Explored", and FL and MD state quarters.
jNo4M TIL that during the Great Depression of the 1930s, women turned their flour sacks into into dresses, underwear, towels, curtains, quilts, and other household necessities. So flour companies started packing their flour in bags with pretty patterns.
4kOkb TIL of the Battle of Los Angeles in 24-25 February 1942 when a meteorological balloon made the US think it was under attack by Japan
GYB4Q TIL that Saddam Hussein had a copy of the Qur’an written in blood, which is considered blasphemous in Islam. However, destroying it is not allowed under Islam either, so the book still exists and Iraqi authorities still haven’t decided what to do with it
JYMDV TIL that over 25% of irrigated land in the US uses groundwater from the Ogallala Aquifer. Since large-scale agricultural extraction began in 1950, its size has been reduced by nearly 10%. Once depleted, it will take 6,000 years for the aquifer to replenish.