› added 12 years ago

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TIL that Buddhist monks distributed over 8 million sunflowers seeds to be planted on the hillside near Fukushima to absorb radioactive ingredients in the soil and water after the nuclear disaster.

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via reddit.com

yVAyX TIL that Aztecs had 18 festivities each year, 17 of which included human sacrifices. Apart from extraction of the heart, they used variety of other methods; drowning, starvation, decapitation, burning, bludgeoning, throwing from heights, forced gladiatorial combat and shooting with arrows.
PY1nn TIL that brown scales develop on your skin if you don't bath after a week, it's called Dermatitis Neglecta
AE9d TIL there is a species of fungus called “Spongiforma squarepantsii” named after the character “SpongeBob SquarePants”
b9La4 TIL that the atmosphere has tides, similar to the ocean's.
7rJ7Z TIL the Stasi, East Germany's secret police force, employed around 90,000 full-time staff, assisted by around 170,000 unofficial informants and countless other occasional collaborators. It is estimated that there was one agent or informant for every 6.5 people living in the GDR.