› added 4 years ago

86

TIL Tumbleweeds aren't native to America. They arrived through a contaminated flax shipment from Russia and are reportedly very tasty as a boiled vegetable or in salads.

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nWewr TIL that acclaimed children’s book author Shel Silverstein wrote “A Boy Named Sue,” made popular by Johnny Cash when he sang live for the San Quentin State Prison in 1969.
gJwW TIL that in 1947, the US War Department released a short film about how racist and bigoted demagogy allowed the Nazis to rise to power in Germany, and warns Americans not to fall for similar demagogy propagated by American racists and bigots.
Brg9W TIL: That the Davy Crockett nuclear device was one of the smallest nuclear weapon systems ever built and was designed to be shot from a recoilless rifle delivering a yield of 10-20 tons TNT equivalent.
ZnEa TIL that handwriting has declined so much that 1 in 3 respondents to a UK survey said they had not written anything by hand in the previous 6 months.
e0KYk TIL of the "poison squad": a group of young government employees in the early 1900s who, in order to test the safety of common food additives of the time, purposely ate ingredients including formaldehyde (embalming fluid) and borax (laundry detergent). Their work led to food labeling requirements.