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159

TIL of Obsidian. A volcanic glass so sharp, many surgeons prefer obsidian to surgical steel

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a8xEM TIL unique clown makeup is memorialized on eggs in a museum; it’s a soft copyright method to prevent plagiarism
YpB6B TIL A pedestrian scramble is a type of traffic signal movement that stops all vehicular traffic, allowing pedestrians to cross an intersection in every direction, including diagonally, at the same time. Research shows it can reduce pedestrian casualties by 38%.
xVDZ5 TIL that 1.3 million Indian soldiers served in World War One, and over 74,000 of them lost their lives. But history has mostly forgotten these sacrifices, which were rewarded with broken promises of Indian independence from the British government.
BgbQK TIL that the Chinese general Zhang Zongchang had the nickname "Old Eighty Six". It's unknown what this meant, but rumours say this either referred to his height or the length of his penis, which reputedly was as tall as a pile of 86 Mexican silver dollars--a common currency of China at the time.
yQpZa TIL Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was meant to be part of a vampire musical based on the film, Nosferatu.