› added 6 months ago

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TIL that ebony doesn't come from 1 species, but from a whole family of nearly 500 species, which includes the common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)

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plyA TIL: “shitstorm” has been adopted into the German language as, a perfectly polite noun meaning, an internet born controversy
7lBb TIL Funds earned by Pink Floyd’s album “Dark Side of the Moon“, went towards funding “Monty Python and the Holy Grail“. The band were such fans of the show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” that they would halt recording sessions just to watch it.
v1Z6r TIL that Haiti had to financially recompensate France for lost colonial profits after gaining independence through its successful slave rebellion. This independence debt wasn't paid back in full until 1947.
xVpd5 TIL that in 18th and 19th century Europe, grave robbing became such a pressing issue that elaborate traps were invented by the graveyard workers to kill those who tried to dig up the recently buried corpses.
D1vmY TIL that a Russian Defector (GRU officer Stanislav Lunev) has alleged that small nuclear weapons have been secretly pre-positioned in the U.S. to be used for sabotage by Russia′s agents in the event of a nuclear war.