› added 7 years ago

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TIL workers building the pyramids were given 4-5 liters of beer a day, which by todays standards would make them legally drunk. The pyramids were built by drunks.

EgoKX TIL that in Anglo-Saxon England between 10 and 30 per cent of the population were slaves. Slave raids on different parts of the British Isles were common. The Medieval French church turned against slavery around 1000 AD and when the Normans invaded in 1066 they slowly ended the practice.
lo751 TIL After the Siege of Leningrad was broken, the Soviets wanted to prosecute those who had resorted to cannibalism. However, so many were accused (over two thousand) that the NKVD had to divide them into two groups; 'corpse-eating' and 'person-eating'. The former were jailed, that later were shot
69A5Y TIL if you hear gurgling coming from your kitchen sink, you may have a clogged vent and AFAIK, the only remedy is to get on the roof with a plumbing snake to clear it. I spent a year trying every other option, avoiding the climb up the ladder until today. Most plumbers won't go up there.
1Qn7 TIL The adoption of the E-ZPass, a highway toll transponder, in the northeast United States resulted in an interesting health benefit, about a 10% drop in preterm infant birth and low birth weight in areas near tollbooths, due to lower traffic congestion.
epkoJ TIL fine particles of dust can explode and rapidly combust, even innocuous objects like flour or corn starch, due to the very large surface area of dust relative to its mass. One incident at a "color party" throwing colored corn starch resulted in 15 dead and 498 suffering from burns.