› added 12 years ago

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TIL the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania is so close to bankruptcy that its government officials (including the mayor) are paid $7.25/hr

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16rA4 TIL of Thomas Fuller, an enslaved African and mental calculator. When asked how many seconds a man has lived in 70 years 17 days & 12 hours, he replied 2,210,500,800. When told he was wrong, Fuller said "massa, you forget de leap year", which was correct once the seconds of the leap years were added
P1pwJ TIL one of the earliest medical descriptions of a phobia was by Hippocrates (460 - 370BC) who recounted a man named Nicanor who apparently suffered from a fear of flute music.
Je1k TIL that according to Carrie Fisher, the golden bikini in Princess Leia’s slave costume was hard plastic that didn’t move with her body, so the other actors got an eyeful. She quipped “if you stood behind me you could see straight to Florida. You’ll have to ask Boba Fett about that.”
0wL0v TIL Cliff Edwards/Ukulele Ike, known for popularising the song Singin' in the Rain and voicing Jiminy Cricket, died penniless following three divorces and struggles with gambling and drinking. His unclaimed body went to the UCLA medical school until it was bought by Disney and given a proper burial.
wLkdM TIL that high levels of dopamine and a related hormone, norepinephrine, are released during attraction. These chemicals make us giddy, energetic, and euphoric, even leading to decreased appetite and insomnia – which means you actually can be so “in love” that you can’t eat and can’t sleep.