› added 10 years ago

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TIL that a majority of Americans believe China is the world’s top economic power (the US is actually still #1). Interestingly, Republicans and younger Americans are more likely to believe that China has surpassed the United States.

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jNvnM TIL To prepare for the 2012 London Olympic Games, a city cleanup crew spent 3 months steam cleaning 300,000 pieces of gum off less than 2 miles of street
loXlA TIL that chili peppers are spicy as a strategy to ensure that birds (which can't taste capsaicin) will spread their seeds far and wide and mammals will avoid eating them.
1aNNW TIL: Several actors had their roles shrunk or completely cut out of the film "The Thin Red Line" in post production. Adrian Brody went from the lead to only two lines of dialog, 3 hours of narration by Billy Bob Thornton was never used, and Mickey Rourke can only be found in the DVD extras.
aDLM TIL that Mother Teresa believed suffering brought people closer to Jesus and therefore withheld pain killers from her patients.
NXbQb TIL about Neutron stars, pulsars, and magnetar. And Interesting fact is that if Neutron collides with earth, then life on earth would probably perish well before the planet is destroyed - a NS is a strong source of X and soft gamma rays, that will sterilize the planet well before it reaches surface.