› added 7 years ago

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TIL the Queen Termite has the longest life span of any insect in the world, living up to 50 years old

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69bvw TIL that the last ever original Mini to leave the factory was a car that was used by workers to get around the plant, had a shipping container dropped on it, stripped of its engine and gearbox, and abandoned in one of the service tunnels. It was recovered and sold at an auction in 2013.
BraKx TIL of the myth that during Neil Armstrong's moon walk he said "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky," in reference to a childhood neighbor whose wife said she'd perform oral sex on her husband "when the kid next door walks on the moon." The myth originated from a Buddy Hackett comedy routine.
9my6 TIL Szechuan peppers cause numbness when eaten because they contain hydroxy-alpha-sanshool, a molecule that binds to cells’ tactile receptors to chemically simulate the same sensation as being vibrated at 50 hertz.
VM1kG TIL David Bowie, fuelled by an "astronomic" cocaine habit and subsisting on a diet of peppers and milk, spent much of 1975–76 "in a state of psychic terror."
9YgJD TIL Hard pretzels were invented in the late 1600s, when a snoozing apprentice in a Pennsylvania bakery accidentally overbaked his pretzels, creating crunchy, seemingly inedible, knots. His job was spared when the master baker, attempting admonishment, took an angry bite out of one--and loved it.