› added 5 years ago

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TIL that if the US in 1920 were a country now, its real GDP per capita (not national GDP) would be somewhere ranked ~#160 globally, competing with countries like Syria, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, or Afghanistan.

Read more data.worldbank.org

via reddit.com

LDaV TIL that in 1962 scientists injected an elephant with a dose of LSD that was 3000 times a typical human dose. Five minutes later the elephant trumpeted, fell down, shit itself, went into a perpetual brain seizure, and then died an hour and forty minutes later.
8eGma TIL about the official script, a writing system that is specifically designated to be official in the constitutions or other applicable laws of countries, states, and other jurisdictions. Akin to an official language, an official script is much rarer
96BB TIL at age 14 Oprah Winfrey gave birth to a boy who died shortly after
XEKKD TIL in 1967 a three way battle erupted in Laos as Burmese militia, remnants of Chinese Nationalist armies and the Royal Loa Army each attempted to capture a mule train carrying 16 tons of opium. The Loatian forces emerged victorious and later peddled the heroin to US troops in Vietnam.
v1AgK TIL in Iceland people light candles for the huldufólk, hidden elves, during New Year's Eve to help the huldufólk find a new home for the year.