› added 9 years ago

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TIL drug overdoses from opiods increased 14% in 2014, killing 40,000 people. This is an increase of 137% since 2000. More people die from drug overdoses, says the CDC, than in road accidents: just under 33,000 people died in traffic accidents last year in 2014.

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YpPrG TIL that modern genetics was discovered/invented in 1856-63 by an Austrian monk who overturned millennia of misunderstanding by simply running a scientific experiment (on 28,000 plants); yet his work was ignored for 40 years and nearly lost.
bL19 TIL There’s a science fiction story, written 2nd century AD (before the Bible) in Roman Syria, that features flying to the moon, contact with aliens, interplanetary war, and the discovery of a continent across the ocean. The name literally translates to “True Stories” or “True History”.
Y7j9x TIL Benjamin Franklin considered all Europeans “Swarthy” and he considered only the Saxons as purely white, wishing “their numbers were increased”
YpDLG TIL that the Powerball drawing on March 30, 2005, produced 110 2nd-prize winners. The total payout was $19.4 million, 89 of them receiving $100,000 each, while the other 21 received $500,000 each. All 110 winners had played numbers from fortune cookies made by Wonton Food Inc
d8JbE TIL Lady Jane Grey was the unofficial Queen of England for 9 days after Edward VI nominated her before his death since he didn’t want his Catholic sister, Mary I, to take the throne. She was beheaded by Mary I for treason