› added 10 years ago

159

TIL a mailman noticed a dead body on the porch of a home he was delivering mail to, dismissed it as a Halloween prop and continued on his route. It was the dead homeowner who collapsed and died coming home from work.

Read more reuters.com

via reddit.com

8avPX TIL that the tar in the La Brea Tar Pits is actually asphalt and it's so sticky that a pool as shallow as 3 inches could trap an animal that weighs 10,000 pounds!
d97r TIL that the trip to Mars would take only 39 days using a new type of nuke plasma rocket engine.
kOwpe TIL that there is a font called Sans Forgetica which helps the reader remember the text they read due to the difficulty in reading it, making the brain remember it as it used up more resources.
VMyap TIL the origins of the slogan "Don't Mess with Texas" was a litter campaign. Printed on street signs, it reduced litter by 72% within a few years.
M74OK TIL that surgeon August Bier tested a form of anesthesia that involved injecting cocaine directly into the spine on his own assistant, and to test its effectiveness, he stuck a needle in his leg, hit him in the shins with a hammer, pulled out his pubic hair, and even squeezed his testicles.