› added 6 years ago

279

TIL that by 3400 B.C. the Sumerians were growing the opium poppy and called it Hul Gil, the 'joy plant'.

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Wk7r4 TIL there is a 64 year old pipeline in the heart of the Great Lakes that pumps millions of gallons of oil a year.
D10xP TIL: Duke Ellington's signature tune, "Take the 'A' Train" was recovered from a trash can just in time before being gone forever. Composer Billy Strayhorn had discarded it as second rate.
epy4D TIL In 2014, a 15-year-old teenager injected himself with mercury, hoping to gain superpowers like the X-Men. He mimicked Wolverine's transformation, but it ended in disaster. He nearly lost his life and realized superpowers are just fiction.
WkAlX TIL the "fly" in a pair of trousers refers to the flap of clothing covering the opening, and not the zipper itself. For tailors, a fly is any flap of clothing that covers an opening in a garment.
Mw6K TIL the stethoscope was conceived because the inventor felt uncomfortable placing his ear on a woman’s bare chest to listen to her heart.