› added 10 months ago

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TIL that around 1730, London was struck by a bizarre epidemic of drunkenness. Almost overnight, spirits became cheaper than beer for the first time in History due to a mix of grain surplus and pro-distillery regulation. The result: years of social unrest on the top of London's rapid urbanization.

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JX9k TIL the Tsar Bomba, the single most physically powerful device ever used by mankind, had a mushroom cloud measuring over 7 times the height of Mt Everest. The shockwave was measured circling the earth 3 times and it caused windowpanes to be partially broken at distances of 900 kilometres (560 mi)
9YAWm TIL that there exists a species of sharks that can live up to 500 years. That means that some of them lived through the founding of the US, industrial revolution, and two world wars and are still alive today
Pjvn TIL that American soldiers reinforced the idea that their base was “protected by a force field” in Iraq and it worked and lead to less attacks.
X0rWX TIL The Hawaiian monk seal is one of two extant monk seal species; the other is the Mediterranean monk seal. A third species, the Caribbean monk seal, is extinct.
x6XOB TIL about Jane Wallis Burrell, the first CIA agent to die in service of the agency. She died on a runway in France in 1948 just 110 days after the Agency’s creation. She does not have a star on the memorial wall, as she did not qualify as the plane was commercially flown.