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15

TIL Ancient Egyptians tested for pregnancy by having potential moms urinate on bags containing wheat and barley; if they sprouted shortly after it was a sign of pregnancy. A 1963 study reproduced the results as 70% accurate.

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16Wxd TIL that both successful and unsuccessful attempts at humor increase perceived confidence, but only successful attempts also increase perceived competence and social status
YelA TIL that in 2013 a 39-storey hotel in Tokyo “disappeared,” in that it was demolished without explosives or a wrecking ball. All 39 floors were disassembled by a small crane from inside the building and there’s a timelapse of it shrinking floor by floor.
ANgGw TIL Saturn's rings are made up of ice which is diamagnetic and hence resides in the place with the lowest magnetic effect: the equator
7ylM TIL Electricity was introduced to Ethiopia in 1896 after Emperor Menelik II ordered two newly invented electric chairs as a form of humane capital punishment and realized they were useless in his country without electricity
eQQ4 TIL Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album was so popular, it had a German factory pressing nothing but that album 34 years after it was first released