› added 10 years ago

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TIL that Al Queda’s strategy specifically involved using terrorism to provoke the West into long wars in numerous places that would lead to its financial collapse.

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VMd6k TIL It's believed that Japan's first nine emperors may not have existed. Despite the slim evidence available to historians the 10th Emperor, Sujin, is the first of the 'heavenly sovereigns' whose reign can be partially documented. The true date of his rule is unclear and sources are part mythology.
Yvmv TIL That Leo Fender, founder of the Fender Electric Guitar Company, couldn’t play guitar and had no desire to learn.
kOenE TIL of Erica Pratt, who was abducted and locked in a basement when she was seven years old. She escaped her kidnappers in less than 24 hours by gnawing through the duct tape binding her hands and feet, kicking out a panel on the basement door, punching out a window, and then screaming for help.
xVeG0 TIL Being overweight literally makes you dumber. As body weight increases patients do worse and worse on learning and memory tests. Obesity also literally shrinks the physical size of the brain, damages the areas used for creativity/imagination, and raises the risk of dementia.
b98VQ TIL about Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor who was committed to the asylum for recommending people to wash hands. He later died from the blows of his guards.