› added 2 weeks ago

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TIL of Drapetomania, a proposed mental illness that, in 1851, American physician Samuel A. Cartwright hypothesized as the cause of enslaved Africans fleeing captivity. The concept has since been debunked as pseudoscience and shown to be part of the edifice of scientific racism.

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lQpG TIL that Avshalom Feinberg, an Israeli spy who helped the British defeat the Ottomans, was killed by Bedouins in the desert. His fate was unknown until after the 1967 Six-Day War when his remains were found under a palm tree that had grown from date seeds in his pocket to mark the spot where he lay.
7r1xP TIL 82% of Americans can't drive a manual transmission car
Me9xW TIL the largest flower garden in the world - nearly 18 acres containing more than 250M plants and yielding over 50M flowers - is located in Dubai. The hot desert climate requires the Dubai Miracle Garden to use over 750k liters of water per day sourced from the city's wastewater.
D1LGV TIL: The scientific publication 'Super-mesenteric-vein-expia-thrombosis, the clinical sequelae can be quite atrocious' was published about a serious complication of appendicitis
wZBJ TIL: “In France, nearly 96% of high schools…have condom vending machines”