› added 10 years ago

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TIL Russians don’t smile as often because for them a smile is the sign of personal sympathy, but not politeness

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via reddit.com

Va7Q TIL that the chemical that makes chili peppers hot induces pain in mammals, who would chew the seeds and destroy them, but has no effect on birds, who swallow the seeds whole and poop them out, serving to disperse them.
loKJA TIL in World War II, American soldier John R. Fox died when he deliberately called an artillery strike on himself. Realizing that German troops were overrunning his position, the strike delayed the enemy long enough for other American units to organize a counter attack
PVdL TIL John Wayne was in his hotel room, below Frank Sinatra’s, who was having a party. The noise kept Wayne up so he went to his room and yelled at him. A guard came saying, “Nobody talks to Sinatra that way.” Wayne slapped the man and knocked him out by breaking a chair on top of him. The noise ended
XZG6 TIL: Shazam has been around since 2002. Before smartphones you used to have to dial 2580 to Shazam a song. Shazam would then text you with what song it was.
x6vmk TIL the city of Los Angeles once funded an excavation in search of a lost city of “lizard people”