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TIL: According to information from the California-based Wine Institute, tiny Vatican City consumes more wine per capita than any other country.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

nelR7 TIL that the Ice Bucket Challenge actually helped fund the the discovery of a gene linked to the cause of ALS. The gene, NEK1, and its variants held clues to understanding and treating the disease.
rRWAo TIL King of Bohemia Charles IV, who commissioned the construction of Prague's Charles Bridge in the 14th century, was rumored to have ordered that egg yolks be added to enrich the mortar and strength the bridge's structure. Scientific evidence indeed found the presence of egg proteins in the mortar.
jNadX TIL that the song ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ mentioning “scary ghost stories” is from the pre-Christianity pagan belief that the winter solstice, being the longest night, was when the dead could most easily return.
rRvBy TIL Squirrels are responsible for many of the power outages in the United States. The American Public Power Association has collected data on the issue for years and has come to one clear conclusion - "expect a higher incidence of squirrel-related outages in the spring and fall."
Wk0bo TIL Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, was buried in a cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. He is the only member of the Nazi Party to be honoured this way.