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TIL in 1599, when the local Jivaro Indians in Ecuador got tired of enduring the cruel Spanish governor, who heavily taxed gold miners. The Indians caught this lover of gold and poured molten metal down his throat.

Read more ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

via reddit.com

oBbY8 TIL about potash evaporation ponds in the Utah desert. Depending on the amount of potash inside the pools, they can turn turquoise, orange, yellow and even white. About 700 - 1000 tons of potash are produced very day, which can then be used to fertilize plants and treat industrial water.
Y7j9x TIL Benjamin Franklin considered all Europeans “Swarthy” and he considered only the Saxons as purely white, wishing “their numbers were increased”
8aDxK TIL that Mark Ruffalo won his role in Shutter Island by sending a fan letter to Martin Scorsese in which he told him how much he’d love to work with him. Ruffalo's future co-stars Robert Downey Jr and Josh Brolin were being considered for the role.
gr9Q7 TIL about the Hoover Dam Tragedy. The project's first recorded fatality was surveyor J.G. Tierney, who drowned on December 20, 1922, while searching for an ideal dam site. Thirteen years to the day, on December 20, 1935, the last man to die during construction was Tierney's son, Patrick W. Tierney.
Z87LR TIL William the Conqueror’s victory at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066 forever changed the way that English itself was spoken because it introduced French as the language of government & business which was eventually blended w/ Old English and became modern English.