› added 4 years ago

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TIL about transparent wood, wood material with over 90% transparency that is significantly more bio-degradable than glass and plastics. It is also shatterproof, making it viable for short-term commercial use. One drawback would be its bio-degradability, making it unsuited for long-term use.

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Z8oBD TIL the last guy to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) was Yukio Mishima in 1970. He was a japanese nationalist author, actor and director who had his own milita and tried to stage a oup d'état by taking over the armed forces heaquaters. He killed himself in the commandants office when it failed.
woyxP TIL French sailor Narcisse Pelletier was abandoned in 1858 at the age of 14 on the Cape York Peninsula, in Australia. He was discovered and rescued by an Aboriginal family who adopted him and named him Amglo, for the next 17 years, until he was found by the crew of the John Bell in 1875.
9w6gQ TIL that NASA built an elaborate escape route and bunker for Apollo engineers working on the launchpad, which had to take dozens of factors into account to withstand the absolutely massive explosion that would occur if the Saturn V exploded on the launchpad.
a8ony TIL British newspapers campaigned to ban controversial film Crash(1996). Film classification board inquired with lawyers, psychologist, disabled people, found no evidence for ban, and passed the film uncut
PY8Qg TIL that DMT has been found to bind to the sigma-1 receptor, which plays a key role in protecting cells from dying when oxygen is low, making room for the argument that DMT may indeed be released in large quantities during death in a last-gasp attempt to keep our cells alive.