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TIL that Heath Ledger refused to present the Oscars in 2007 after he and Jake Gyllenhaal were asked to make fun of their "Brokeback Mountain" characters' romance

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JL4l TIL that in ancient Rome, one of the most common cooking ingredients was called “laser”, from the silphium plant. It does not exist today: it was so delicious that it was harvested to extinction from its natural habitat in what is now Libya. We think that it probably tasted something like garlic.
jNBXn TIL that a Scottish woman can't feel pain or anxiety and is very happy and optimistic all the time all because of a rare genetic mutation which increases the brain chemical "Anandamide". She was given 1 g of paracetamol or acetaminophen after a trapeziectomy where people usually need morphine.
X6rr TIL the word Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’
NXA1J TIL of Guðlaugur Friðþórsson, a fisherman who in 1984 survived 6 hours in 5 °C cold water after his ship sank and then trekked barefoot for 3 hours across lava fields before reaching safety. Despite only wearing shirt, sweater and jeans, he showed almost no symptoms of hypothermia or vasodilatation.
4kra6 TIL: Teddy Roosevelt was VP due to his support of anti-trust reform, and conservatives knew the VP had little power. Six months into the term, President McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became President, ushering in an unprecedented era of anti-trust and labor reforms.