› added 6 years ago

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TIL that 1/3 of cats have no reaction to catnip. Many cats that don't respond to catnip do respond to honeysuckle wood. Honeysuckle contains a chemical that is similar to the active ingredient in catnip. Most likely, it is this substance that puts cats into a delightful, temporarily altered state.

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b6no7 TIL As a teenager, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping went to Europe on a work-study program designed by anarchists who hoped a Western education would create a cohort capable of reviving China
VMPG4 TIL the material asbestos has been used by humans for over 4,500 years. In antiquity, a Sassanian king amazed his guests when he cleaned his asbestos napkin by throwing it into a fire.
mxnLO TIL that Olivia de Haviland and Joan Fontaine were sisters and lifelong rivals. They were born 15 months apart and were rivals as kids. When Joan won an Oscar against her sister in 1942, she ignored Olivia’s congratulations. 5 years later Olivia did the same to Joan when she won.
69rGl TIL The lowest-scoring NBA game in history occurred in 1950 with a 19-18 victory for the Fort Wayne Pistons over the Minneapolis Lakers. Whenever the Pistons led, they held or passed the ball around as long as possible, eliciting boos from their own fans. The shot clock was introduced 4 years later.
NXyJN TIL Susan Weaver, AKA Sigourney Weaver, began using the name "Sigourney" when she was 14 years old, taking it from a minor character in The Great Gatsby.