› added 7 years ago

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TIL that 46% of the world’s population depend upon rivers originating in Tibet.

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via reddit.com

AEDg TIL Elmer McCurdy was mummified and used as a stage prop for 26 years before people realized his corpse was a real body
QNE4M TIL Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was paid only 800 rubles for 'Swan Lake.' The ballet was based on King Ludwig II's life which Russians disliked and also called it "unimaginative" and "unmemorable." Swan Lake was a failure during Tchaikovsky's lifetime.
bpDE TIL that there’s a stinging tree called the Gympie Gympie that produces a toxin so painful, it’s driven people and animals to suicide. It’s been described as being sprayed with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time. A man was reported to have shot himself after using the tree as toilet paper.
OnlR TIL that carrots aren’t actually good for your eyes… it’s just a myth that the British government fabricated during WWII. They wanted to keep their newly developed radar system secret from the Germans and had to find some way to explain how they were suddenly shooting down a lot more planes.
rbPx TIL that for the first 22 years of its history Georgia banned all lawyers from the colony. Founder James Oglethorpe denounced them as a ‘pest and scourge of mankind.’