› added 1 year ago

44

TIL the richest man in the world in the 19th century was a merchant in Guangzhou, China

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

woAyo TIL Levi Strauss made his fortune initially by making pants out of tent canvas for miners during the 1850s Gold Rush
Opye TIL: Massachusetts General was the first hospital in the world to use anesthetics. “Ether Day,” the anniversary of that event is still celebrated 170 plus years later by its doctors and staff annually on October 16th.
N71ne TIL about Cognitive Bias, which is is a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment. People create their own "subjective reality" from their perception of the input. An individual's construction of reality, not the objective input, may dictate their behavior in the world.
e0kmg TIL that for the price of two stamps, you can send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Amundsen-Scott research station at the South Pole, and they will postmark it and send it back to you.
jGKQ TIL that in Portland in the 1800s there were so many trees cut down that people could use the stumps as stepping stones to keep out of the mud while they walked.