› added 9 years ago

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TIL that Tuvalu could finally afford the $100,000 it cost to join the United Nations after it received its first quarterly $1 million payment for leasing out the valuable .tv internet domain.

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kJevW TIL that Botulinum toxin is the most poisonous substance known. It is estimated that a single gram of crystalline toxin, evenly dispersed & inhaled, can kill more than one million people and a couple of kg would kill every human on earth.
XEAEj TIL that we originally discovered how digestion work because a man named Alexis St. Martin developed a fistula in his stomach after a gunshot wound. The physician placed bits of food on a spoon and inserted them into the mans stomach through the fistula in order to observe the process of digestion.
dDM4E TIL that in 2012, the National Reconnaissance Organization (NRO) gifted NASA two space telescopes with capabilities exceeding that of the Hubble telescope. For example, the telescopes have shorter focal lengths, which in turn gives them a field of view that is 100x larger than Hubble.
6R7Z TIL Following the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem Jews were once again allowed to live and practice their religion in Jerusalem for the first time since the Byzantines expelled them.
7rkjO TIL the last Blockbuster on earth, in Bend, OR uses floppy disks to boot their system, employees have to hand print cards because their printers broke, and transactions are backed up on a reel-to-reel tape that can't be replaced because Radio Shack went out of business.