› added 8 years ago

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TIL the asparagus we eat is actually the young shoot of the asparagus plant, which can grow up to 5ft tall and bears poisonous berries.

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kaY4 TIL Italians with celiac disease receive a monthly stipend from the government for gluten-free food and extra vacation time
grdJA TIL the United States had a National Raisin Reserve from 1949 until 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional due to the raisins being seized without market compensation.
jKlj TIL that there have been several vigilante groups in recent years, including a man named Rodrigo Duterte that transformed the murder capital of the Philippines to “the most peaceful city in Southeast Asia” by killing multiple drug leaders and traffickers. He was dubbed The Punisher by Time Magazine.
Wa5L TIL a failed 1970s natural gas operation in Turkmenistan was set alight to prevent the buildup of suffocating gasses in the area and it’s still burning 40 years later
kQrE TIL that in the late 1950s, China’s government began a campaign to kill millions of sparrows because they ate crops. As a result, there was a huge increase in crop-eating insects, which led to a severe famine.