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TIL that it is a very common misconception that the poinsettia is poisonous. The rumor started when a 3yo’s death was falsely blamed on poinsettia, and it has been passed on that poinsettias are poisonous for about 100 years.

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xwy5 TIL Spain protected and gave thousands of Irish people fleeing British persecution Spanish citizenship. King Philip V issued a decree 1701 stating “ the Irish were to be treated as native Spaniards” The Spanish also believed the Irish were descendants of an ancient Spanish King
84xK TIL scientist Craig Venter created a cell with the smallest genome of any known (independent) organism. With 473 genes, the cell is a milestone to reduce life to its bare essentials and to design life from scratch.
GYQgE TIL: the “selfie stick” was once considered so unnecessary that it was included in a Chindōgu book consisting of 101 Un-Useless Japanese Inventions by Kenji Kawakami. Chindōgu are things that are almost completely useless, but not quite.
OlYY TIL: on August 14 1945, more than 1,000 Japanese officers raided the Imperial palace to destroy the recording of the Emperor’s speech of surrender. Confused by the layout of the palace, the rebels never found the recording. It was later smuggled outside in basket of women’s underwear for broadcast.
OGVLg TIL it's estimated that more than 99 percent of the earth's gold is in its core, enough to cover the entire land surface of the planet to a depth of half a meter.