› added 2 years ago

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TIL that the Brazilian village of Candido Godoi, 7k inhabitants mostly of German descent, have the greatest birth rate of twins in the world (1/5 births). Some believe it is the result of genetic experiments of nazi medic Mengele, notorious for his obsession with creating an Aryan race.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

MenZm TIL: The Expanse started out as an RPG. Ty Frank created the game and his later co-author Daniel Abraham was so impressed by the amount of research and world-building he suggested they write a novel from it. Their first book was nominated for a Hugo and spawned a hit television series.
rRZ9w TIL about brothel candles, which burned for precisely 7 minutes and were heavily used during Victorian times. The individual would pay the fee, light the candle, and when the candle burned out, the session was over.
g06A TIL that Nicolae Ceaușescu, the Stalinist dictator of Romania was captured and put on trial on Christmas morning after a few days, given ten minutes to prepare his defense with his counsel, convicted by the afternoon and executed at 4 PM the same day
gMa8W TIL in 2017 raccoons and chimps were put through the Aesop's Fable test, to see if they could learn to displace water to get food from a container. Many succeeded: the raccoons used their hands to manipulate the container in creative ways, and one chimp simply peed into the container (which worked).
JEmB TIL 550 motorcyclists participated in a ride to protest New York State’s mandatory helmet law. During the ride, One of the rider’s breaks failed and was sent over the handlebars and hit his head on the pavement, killing him. Medical experts said he would have survived if he had worn his helmet.