› added 4 months ago

36

TIL that, on average, Mercury is the closest planet to Earth and every other planet in our solar system.

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rRQme TIL the neck rings don't really stretch the neck, they push the shoulders and clavicles down to create the illusion of a longer neck, and removing them incorrectly may cause death because the neck muscles weaken so much they can't support the head on their own.
BDyk TIL the first athlete to be disqualified at the Olympics for drug use was a Swedish pentathlete who drank two beers before his shooting event to calm his nerves.
kODW4 TIL The first music video played on MTV was, fittingly, Video Killed the Radio Star
56r TIL during WWII, 12000 conscientious objectors served the government without pay. Their many jobs included smokejumping into forest fires, being human test subjects, and working at mental hospitals, where their pacifist approach revolutionized the way mental patients were treated.
yQNbp TIL that the numbers we write today are all upper case. Lower case numbers exist and some include ascenders and descenders