› added 7 years ago

140

TIL pencils are painted yellow because in the 1890s, China had the best graphite in the world, and China associates the color yellow with royalty and respect.

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699yw TIL that American nuclear physicist Edward Condon was targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee for being at the forefront of the "revolutionary movement" of quantum mechanics. Condon responded that he believed in scientific advancements and didn't ask if they were made by Communists.
p4kQ TIL: The tingling sensation some people experience in their mouth after eating pineapple is not an allergic reaction; it is their mouth being digested by an enzyme.
MelKV TIL about how Japan built a train station around a 700 year old tree to preserve it
p8Vpe TIL that at the center of a pearl is a parasite. Making pearls is an immune response.
pYdyG TIL that when Wyoming was going through the process of becoming a US state in 1890, the state demanded that women be given the right to vote. The US Congress denied this request. The state replied by saying that they'd "remain out of the Union one hundred years rather than come in without the women"