› added 3 years ago

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TIL: Resiniferatoxin is 10,000 times hotter than the Carolina reaper and 1,000 times hotter than pure capsaicin. It’s actually hot enough to destroy nerve endings.

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via reddit.com

R5Na8 TIL Peppers evolved to prefer birds spread their seeds. Capsaicin and pepper colors attract birds. Seeds that pass through the digestive system of a bird germinate at a rate of 370% higher than seeds that pass through mammals who are normally repelled by Capsaicin.
xVXlg TIL that before the British royal family was the Royal House of Windsor, they were the Royal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They changed the name to sound more British during WWI after a German air raid killed a class of schoolchildren in London, whipping up extreme anti-German sentiment in the UK.
xVQ6w TIL Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier, was just 19 when he inherited the title of president-for-life from his father. He was forced from power but was allowed to live in the obscurity of a Port-au-Prince suburb, freely roaming the capital as he pleased until his death
1jMX TIL that when James Joyce picked a fight, he would hide behind Hemingway, “his drinking companion”, and shout: ‘Deal with him, Hemingway. Deal with him.’
mxx8p TIL of Richard Lawrence, who in 1835 attempted to assassinate President Andrew Jackson at a funeral using two pistols shot point blank. When both misfired, the President severely beat him with his cane, after which he was wrestled into submission by Davy Crockett.