› added 6 years ago

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TIL: Peppers are spicy because the spiciness is supposed to be a defense mechanism against predators.

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4X7Pb TIL that the "first blow" of the Seven Years War was triggered by a 21 year old Colonel and his ambush squad that attempted (and failed) to drive out French forces from the Ohio Valley. The newly appointed officer was none other than future president George Washington.
bRda TIL Jane Barbe was the woman who did “The number you have dialed…” recordings for the phone company. She got her start as a copywriter. Being a poor speller, she opted to read her first commercial out loud to her boss instead of submitting it in writing. He began paying her to make recordings.
6EajJ TIL a Brazilian priest strapped himself to 1000 balloons as a fundraising event for truckers. He set off into the sky and then disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. His body was recovered months later.
m1lOo TIL that Willem Dafoe starred as Jesus in a religious epic, which included supporting performances by Harvey Keitel and David Bowie and was banned from Greece, Turkey, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina for several years.
pB64 TIL that in 1988 when the american Internet was paralyzed by computer virus, quick thinker Pål Spiller saved the Norwegian Internet by literally pulling the plug