› added 9 years ago

464

TIL in 1997, amphetamine, methamphetamine, nicotine, and mescaline was found within two species of Texas acacia bushes.

Read more ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

via reddit.com

6akw TIL that Vasily Blokhin, a Soviet Russian Major-General, personally executed at least one Polish soldier every three minutes, totalling 7,000 by the 28th day
gR09 TIL that in 1998 and 2001, Japan modified a number of national holidays in order to place them on Mondays and create three day weekends. This is referred to as the Happy Monday System.
wopNY TIL Julius Schmid arrived in NYC as a penniless, partially paralyzed German immigrant. He got a job at a sausage maker where he started selling the leftover animal intestines as condoms. He grew this into a multi-million dollar business eventually being named "the undisputed king of condoms".
74wb TIL: In 1995 Christopher Reeve starred in the film Above Suspicion, in which he played a quadriplegic character. It premiered 6 days before his horse riding accident.
5gjp TIL Joe Biden was accused of plagiarizing and finished in the bottom 10% of his class during law school, dodged the draft 5 times, considered himself a Republican, and as a senator, his staffers took bets on how long he would last.