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TIL freedom house ambulance services is considered the first paramedic service in the US

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78lYZ TIL Michel Fourmont, an antiquarian and French priest, enjoyed destroying antiquities and remnants of ancient Greek cities, including Sparta. Sent by Louis XV to find manuscripts, he turned to marble inscriptions which he defaced after copying them.
6VKW TIL CAPTCHA tests on web forms are considered ineffective as sweatshop workers complete them for $12 per 500 tests
JY181 Did you wake up today with a craving for clay, or dirt? That’s called pica, an abnormal craving for substances other than typical food. If you went ahead and acted on your impulse, it's probably a good idea to head over to your doctor’s office. Research indicates that in most cases this craving is a result of a mineral or vitamin deficiency. This brings us to this week’s Today I Learned, as National Geographic Society grantee and ornithologist Luke Powell explains why macaws regularly munch on South American rain forest clay. Yummy! All animals (including humans) need salt to live. Animals that live in the Amazon rain forest face a curious predicament due to the way the Andes mountain range affects weather coming from the Pacific Ocean. This geography results in an extreme lack of salt in the Amazon and, consequentially, some unique behaviors and appetites.EDITOR: Laurence AlexanderSERIES PRODUCER: Chris Mattle
b9op0 TIL According to one story of his last words, Voltaire's response to a priest at his deathbed urging him to renounce Satan was "Now is not the time for making new enemies."
8alVa TIL the sharpest object every made is a tungsten needle, which tapers down to the tip being about the size of an atom.