› added 2 years ago

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TIL that hot thermal pools have killed more people than bears in Yellowstone National Park. 20 deaths v. 8 deaths.

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via reddit.com

DQElg TIL that when French forces led by King Francis I attacked Arles in southern France in 1536, the word "grenade" was first used. Firepots, kegs, jars, and glass globes were used to make the first grenades. The Germans quickly began using two grenade variants (stick and egg).
OoKn6 TIL some streets in Old San Juan, PR are paved with blue cobblestones, called adoquines, and were made from the waste, or slag, that resulted from iron smelting, then cast into blocks and brought to the island as ballasts in the bottoms of 18th-century Spanish ships.
wodXM TIL the Penan people in Malaysia have such a highly generous / egalitarian society that they have no word for 'thank you' because help is assumed and therefore doesn't require a 'thank you'.
wbBo TIL of the ‘loneliest organism’ in the world. A single, lone cycad tree, the dominant tree during the dinosaur era, was discovered in Africa in 1895. They have yet to find a mate to pollinate it.
yQ0wp TIL of Jean Meslier, a catholic priest and exemplary clergyman of 40 years, known for his charity work. After his death a 633 page "testament" was found in his house. In it he claims he only became a priest to please his parents, denies the existance of god and calls religion "a castle in the air"