› added 9 years ago

102

TIL Paula Radcliffe, current marathon world record holder, is an asthmatic

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D1ev TIL before syphilis had a name, it had been called the “French disease” in Italy, Poland and Germany; the “Italian disease” in France; the “Spanish disease” in the Netherlands; the “Polish disease” in Russia; the “Christian disease” in Turkey; and the “British Disease” in Tahiti.
JYDy1 TIL J.R.R.Tolkien had a peculiar sense of humor. Along with his friend C.S. Lewis, he once dressed as a polar bear for a non-costume party and would chase neighbors away dressed as an Anglo-Saxon warrior.
j6A5R TIL that the Doors’ second manager, Danny Sugerman, began working with the Doors when he was just 12 years old, by answering their fan mail. Following the death of Jim Morrison in 1971, Sugerman replaced the original Doors’ manager, Bill Siddons, at just age 17.
gMDV9 TIL that the strongest chilli in the world can kill you by burning up your airways, and it was initially developed as a local anesthetic
9wEDm TIL that Charles Barbier invented "night writing," a raised-dot writing system for the blind in 1815 years before Louis Braille adapted and refined it into the system we use today. Despite being mostly forgotten, Barbier laid the foundation for tactile literacy.