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188

TIL of Fatal Familial Insomnia, a very rare and incurable disease which destroys the patient’s ability to sleep. At the time of death some victims have been sleep-deprived for up to six months.

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yQVYJ TIL that due to lack of fertilizer, North Korean shops once sold (or still selling) human feces
16QyW TIL In 1976 author Marian Engle wrote a book called "Bear". Dubbed one of the most controversial books in Canadian history this book centers around a women who enters a sexual relationship with a Bear.
N7kab TIL that during the Cold War, Soviet military cartographers carried out one of the greatest mapping ventures of all time by producing thousands of detailed maps of terrain and local landmarks of almost the entire world
wLNO6 TIL that French call AA batteries "Mignon" (french for 'cute' or 'adorable') and Poles call them "Paluszki" (meaning 'little fingers')
x6AVg TIL that Robert Franklin Stroud, was a convicted murderer in solitary confinement. While there, he raised a collection of 300canaries & published his research on avian pathology,which was useful in finding a cure for diseases affecting farmed birds; earning himself the nickname "Birdman of Alcatraz"