› added 11 years ago

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TIL humans have invisible “stripes” in their skin that are only visible due to certain skin diseases. The patterns that these “stripes” form are thought to be the migration patterns of embryonic cells.

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gMv99 TIL Yousuf Karsh, the photographer of the scowling Winston Churchill portrait took the photo after snatching Churchill's cigar while he was smoking it.
E1X1X TIL of “Sixteen String Jack,” a 1770’s highway robber famous for the colorful strings he wore over his breeches. He loved partying and robbed to pay his debts. Before his execution he dined with 7 women, joked with the crowd and danced a jig before being hung in a green suit he had specially made.
LkXRr TIL there's a max height that water can be sucked up a straw: 10 meters. At 10 meters, a perfect vacuum is created at the top of the straw, and water will begin boiling spontaneously.
e0JeL TIL that Japan's population is rapidly declining, and Tohoku University established a countdown to national extinction - research estimates that the nation "will have only one remaining child in 4025".
YpZR7 TIL that the @ symbol was chosen for the first electronic mail because the developer "was mostly looking for a symbol that wasn’t used much."