› added 8 years ago

451

TIL a disgruntled former 7-Eleven owner opened a new convenience store across the street from his old location. He named it 6-Twelve.

Read more atlasobscura.com

via ift.tt

Bg7wx TIL When President Macias of Equatorial Guinea was overthrown in 1979, the army couldn’t find him. He was discovered 2 weeks later by a villager, wandering through the Jungle, alone and delirious with the entire country’s foreign currency reserves in 2 suitcases.
4Xdm5 TIL That Leonardo Da Vinci once conducted an experiment to understand the flow of blood through the valves of the heart, by pouring hot wax into one, making a mould of thin glass from the cast, and then pumping water mixed with seeds through it. He saw how a heart actually regulates itself.
1a9Bd TIL in 1997 the second highest rated Chess player in America was a prisoner who played largely through letter correspondence. He was accused of inflating his rating by fixing matches against other inmates, and briefly escaped prison after bolting when permitted to attend a chess tournament.
g4Ay TIL that ancient Greeks invented the modern shower using piped water. Rich and poor used large locker-room showers with bars to hang up clothing. Ancient Romans did the same, bringing showers to as far as England. The systems and habits of bathing every day disappeared after the fall of Rome.
GYOa1 TIL children and pregnant women will absorb more consumed lead (50% of volume) than a non-pregnant adult (5-10%) because children's and pregnant women's bodies have a higher demand for calcium (and Pb readily substitutes for Ca).