› added 7 years ago

81

TIL: President Jefferson and Madison fought pirate wars in the 1800s against the Barbary Pirates in the Mediterranean Sea

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8ldK TIL a full suit of plate armour weighs less than a modern fire fighters oxygen gear
7rE9L TIL that people with schizophrenia have DMT (a powerful psychedelic compound) in their urine. This study found that 47% of schizophrenics, 38% of people with psychosis, and 19% of people with personality disorders had detectable amounts of DMT in their urine.
XEN4D TIL that one of the reasons that the British Navy lost ground against the Continental Navy was the Great Hurricane of 1780, which killed 22k-27k people, broke ships free of their moorings, and tossed cannons 100 feet in the air, among other things.
bb1p TIL: The role of Frodo in a 1981 bbc radio dramatization of LOTR was played by Ian Holm, who went on to appear as Bilbo in Peter Jackson’s films.
ddkr TIL Brazil has replaced almost 42 percent of its gasoline needs with sugarcane ethanol – making gasoline the alternative fuel in the country.