› added 11 months ago

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TIL that Ethiopia and Eritrea are the only two African countries not to have a European language or Arabic as their official language.

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BlnL TIL ancient Egyptians had a pregnancy test where potentially pregnant women peed on barley and wheat seeds. Plant growth indicated pregnancy: Barley for boy; wheat for woman. Later tests show urine of pregnant women does cause plant growth 70% of the time, while urine of non-pregnant does not.
xxKk TIL OJ Simpson was originally cast to play Terminator, but the studio was afraid that no one would buy him as a remorseless killer.
nW7p7 TIL The movie Crossfire (1947) was based on the book The Brick Foxhole (1945). The book focused on homophobia but the film was changed to focus on anti-semitism because the Hays Code prohibited homosexual content.
LkvZP TIL during Mao'great leap campaign in China, starvation was so horrible that people started comitting acts of canabalism which includes eating the death and parents eating their own children.
Qp9M TIL De Beers no longer controls the diamond market and prices are set by market forces after a century long monopoly