› added 8 years ago

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TIL that suicide candidates in 18th-century Denmark were afraid to take their own lives because they believed it would send them to hell. Instead, they resorted to killing other people to receive the death penalty and repented before execution, believing that doing so would send them to heaven.

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R7X8 TIL that blocked noses are not caused by booger plugs, they’re actually caused by inflamed blood vessels pinching your nasal cavity shut, so no amount of blowing your nose will clear the blockage
xVNR0 TIL that Bikini atoll, the place where Bikini Bottom was named after, was declared a nuclear wasteland after the US dropped 23 bombs in the 1950s. However scientists have found thriving life in the center of it all, with evidence that life restarted a mere 10 years after the bombings.
wV6W TIL that the first cardiologist to perform an open heart surgery was African-American, Daniel Hale Williams, and performed the surgery in 1893 on James Cornish, who was also African American.
LkD0d TIL the Deep Note, also known as the "THX Note", was designed and synthesized in 1983 by James A. Moorer after 2 years of development using a 19" rack full of digital hardware. It is perceived as much louder than it is due to the large number of overlapping voices - the original version has 30.
oRWvY TIL Dr Seuss didn't have a big hit until age 53 when "Cat in the Hat" was published. He resisted writing his own life story, and only sat down for two interviews near the end when he was dying from cancer