› added 6 years ago

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TIL: in 1860 there were more millionaires per capita in Lower Mississippi valley than anywhere else in the United States. At the same time the American slaves were worth somewhere around $3.5B making them the single biggest financial asset in the US.

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1vP7 TIL that a man bought a house next to his ex-wife so he can install a giant middle finger statue for her to see everyday
NXE86 TIL over 20 million people were killed in Chinese Islamic insurgency in 1860s and 1870s under Qing dysnasty, one province lost 14 million and the neighboring province 6 million
yQdrw TIL that the blind spot problem that occurs while driving was solved in 1995, when engineer George Platzer published a 16 pages paper detailing the correct set up procedure of sideview mirrors.
BOxW TIL of UCSC grad student Jim Kent who wrote a program to allow the Human Genome Project to assemble and publish the genome. The research was largely motivated by concerns that Celera Genomics, working on a parallel project, would patent the data. Kent’s results were released first by 3 days.
R5aE6 TIL human jaws have been shrinking since the invention of farming, but have shrunk even faster in the past couple of centuries due to people eating softer food and spending more time indoors.