› added 11 years ago

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TIL that the Automotive Crash Injury Research Center originally used corpses rather than dummies when crash-testing cars

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BrpNb TIL In 552AD two monks successfully smuggled silkworm eggs in their walking sticks from China to the Byzantine Empire, essentially ending the silk monopolies of China and Persia, and bringing silk manufacture to Europe.
4XO4g TIL of TABOR, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which currently only exists in Colorado. It ties tax revenue increases to population & inflation, and larger increases have to be put to a vote. The author was named Douglas Bruce, and efforts to find work-arounds are known as "de-Brucing."
M7YrK TIL, with a running start, Usain Bolt ran a 100m in 8.70 seconds in 2009
e9Yn TIL that the residents of Sarajevo remembered those lost in the Bosnian War by filling in with red resin the scars in the concrete caused by mortar/rocket shells. These haunting memorials are called Sarajevo Roses.
woVg8 TIL during a preview of the Sistine Chapel paintings, one of the Pope's men criticized all the "disgraceful" nudity. So Michaelangelo painted the critic's likeness into the Last Judgement, wearing nothing but a snake that's biting his dick.