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TIL the "affect heuristic" is a heuristic, a mental shortcut that allows people to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently, in which current emotion—fear, pleasure, surprise, etc.—influences decisions.

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VKOZ TIL that the Norse Sagas which describe the historical pre-Columbus Viking discovery of North America also say that they met Native Americans who could speak a language that sounded similar to Irish, and who said that they’d already encountered white men before them.
gKV9 TIL Finland is a future-obsessed nation. It was the first country in the world to offer a master’s degree in futures studies, has a special parliamentary committee for the future, and its government is required by law to produce an official review of the future every four years.
M7y5b TIL the map of Juan de la Cosa, created around the year 1500, is the oldest known map to show America and was unknown until its discovery in 1832 by map enthusiast Charles Walckenaer in a Paris bookshop.
keMm [TIL] A Houston Texas man killed himself whilst playing Russian Roulette with a semi-automatic weapon. He did not realize that this type of weapon automatically chambered a round when the gun is cocked. He later won a Posthumous Darwin Award
X0rxQ TIL of the Grasshopper Mouse which feeds on highly venomous prey (centipedes, snakes, scorpions). Not only do Scorpion stings have little effect on the Grasshopper Mouse, but it can actually get pain relief from them.