› added 12 years ago

515

TIL there are “cancer villages” in China, where residents are hundreds of times more susceptible to cancer due to pollution.

Read more guardian.co.uk

via reddit.com

MWm0 TIL in WWII the Japanese decrypted a British message to London complaining about the weak state of “Fortress Singapore”, a key British base. It was so frank in its admission of weakness that they suspected it was a plant, believing no officer would be so open in admitting weakness to his superiors.
jNYnn TIL that the Roman peoples, or the rather wealthy Roman peoples, consumed an artificial sweetener called Sapa. The sweetener was usually made within lead pots, which led many of the people who consumed it to lead poisoning.
awYny TIL Because the number 8 is considered very lucky in Chinese culture, a Chinese man spent the equivalent of 1 millions RMB to secure a license plate reading '88888' in the hope of increasing his luck, to get pulled over 8 times by cops who thought the plate was a fake.
M7xNW TIL factory workers were told to clean the paintbrushes on their lips while painting the self-luminating radioactive radium dials on watches in the 1920s.
DQOBJ TIL medieval Europe “mummy balm,” made from human fat, was applied to wounds and believed to have healing powers. It was often taken from executed criminals with the belief their violent deaths made it more potent. This persisted for centuries until medicine shifted toward evidence-based practices.