› added 4 months ago

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TIL that Les Miserables is one of the longest novels in literature. In the original French, it consists of 655,478 words spanning 365 chapters

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bmoj TIL Due to pollution and malnutrition more than 40 million people in mainland China have been diagnosed as infertile.
OG9A6 TIL mercury is released into the air by human activity, and can travel thousands of miles and settle into the ocean where microorganisms convert it into methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds up in fish & shellfish.
VM80Q TIL showers were invented as a deliberately unpleasant treatment to cure the insane
KYjl4 TIL that the LCVP landing craft, famously used in the D-Day landings, was made out of plywood. It was originally designed as swamp boat for trappers, oil drillers and (allegedly) liquor smugglers.
5Ynxn TIL that NASA engineers once asked Sally Ride if 100 tampons was enough for a 7 day mission