› added 4 years ago

132

TIL There are 7 different types of English surname, originally based either on personal characteristics, location, occupation, estate, patronage, or ancestry.

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xVeG0 TIL Being overweight literally makes you dumber. As body weight increases patients do worse and worse on learning and memory tests. Obesity also literally shrinks the physical size of the brain, damages the areas used for creativity/imagination, and raises the risk of dementia.
oBGL7 TIL of Dr. Serge Voronoff who dedicated his life to researching animal testicles and developed a treatment to graft monkey balls into humans. This became somewhat popular with millionaires in the 20s as a means to curb aging and other ailments.
neKQY TIL there is a method of growing rhubarb known as "forcing" where the plant grows in complete darkness and is tended to in candlelight. It grows so quickly during this process that you can hear it grow.
N74m6 TIL C&P: Thomas Jefferson used a razor to cut passages from the New Testament and literally pasted them together into what is now known as the Jefferson Bible, currently on display at the Smithsonian. He felt the focus should be on Jesus’ life and moral teachings, not inexplicable miracles
VM4l4 TIL In 2005, 60 years after the end of World War 2 and Korea's Independence, South Korea passed a law to seize land held by Pro-Japan collaborators and redistribute them to people who fought for the country's Independence.