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TIL of 'Sokushinbutsu', ascetic Japanese buddhist monks who practiced self-mummification; they would prepare for death by eating a diet rich in pine needles and resin, paired with severe dehydration, until they 'hardened' in place.

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wPV6 TIL the company that makes coral snake antivenom in the USA decided it was unprofitable and stopped producing it in 2003. The USA’s stock of coral snake antivenom expired in 2008 but the FDA has extended the date ever since to keep what is left available to the public.
EgkBo TIL Thirty years before Newton published his Principia, Descartes published his Principia Philosophiæ which put forward a new mechanistic system of physics. However, Descartes’s system was entirely qualitative; he provided no equations of motion and his hypothesis has no validity
xV9y0 TIL about "The Thomas Edison of Finland", Eric Tigerstedt, who was awarded 71 patents between 1912 and 1924, including one in 1917 for a "pocket-size folding telephone". He was tragically killed in a car accident on April 20, 1924, rumoured to have been caused by a competitor.
wkxP TIL As a struggling young writer, Harper Lee once got a year’s wages as a gift from a friend with a note, “You have a year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.” She wrote To Kill A Mockingbird.
LQg99 TIL that Japan’s Tobe Zoo conducts lion escape drills using a human in a lion costume. Due to Japan’s earthquake-prone location, these elaborate drills are crucial to prepare for emergencies