› added 10 years ago

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TIL the Indian rebellion of 1857 started because the East India Trading Company was asking its soldiers to bite the seal off their ammo cartridges, which were sealed with pork and beef animal fats (against Muslim and Hindu beliefs).

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BrvGD TIL a study found tobacco and tomato plants emit ultrasonic "squeals" when stressed. Microphones 4" away picked up the sounds when plants had stems cut/were under-watered: an average of 15 - 25 sounds within 1 hr from cutting, and 11 - 35 sounds per hr from drought.
AD4Pl TIL Betty White had a cameo in Toy Story 4 as a teething toy named “Bitey White”
D7Kp TIL that in 2006, all outdoor advertisements were banned in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Within a year, 15000 billboards were taken down in South America’s largest city.
p8nb TIL 80% of shops in Sicily pay protection money to the Mafia.
YpM5A TIL that for four years a japanese man was challengened to stay locked up completely naked in an apartment for a tv show akin to the movie the Tru-man show. when he eventually got released his diary became a bestseller in Japan