› added 13 years ago

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TIL that black mamba venom contains a better pain killer than morphine.

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RoKl TIL higher social class is associated with increased unethical behavior
wyAY TIL that An old custom in ancient Babylon compels all women to go to the temple of Aphrodite and have sex with a stranger at least once in their lives.
0deb5 TIL that one of the first devices made to estimate electric voltage, the "Frog Galvanoscope" of the late 1700s, was named after its crude method of attaching electrical wires directly to the exposed nerve of a recently skinned frog leg, which would jerk suddenly in response to electric current.
noXo TIL Manta rays frequently leap out of the water, sometimes to heights as high as 9 feet and then belly flop back into the water. This flop has been reported to sound as loud as a gunshot. It is still a mystery as to why they do this.
6EjjW TIL Following the battle of Midway, an American newspaper published a headline basically revealing that Japanese naval codes had been cracked. The Japanese never noticed this blunder.