› added 6 years ago

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TIL that a Queens man, Raffi Stepanian, has mined the cracks in the sidewalks in Midtown's Diamond District, New York City, for bits of diamonds, rubies, platinum and gold to make a living. Over six days, he says he collected enough gold for two sales totaling $819.

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16xYO TIL Vanilla Extract can be used as a sedative
KKBa TIL New Amsterdam was given to the Duke of York in 1664 as an 18th birthday present from his father. He then renamed the city New York.
PYGeE TIL the South Pacific island of Niue was named "Savage Island" by Captain James Cook, because the natives he saw were painted in what looked like blood (it was actually hulahula, a native red fe'i banana). That name was used until the original name "Niue", meaning "behold the coconut", regained use
l7517 TIL France detonated its 1st atomic bomb, the Blue Jerboa, on Feb. 13, 1960 in Saharan Algeria. This was the 1st of 17 nuclear weapons detonations that occurred in the area between 1960 & 1966. The Blue Jerboa was 3 times more powerful than the atomic bomb the US dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in 1945.
PYZLg TIL that there is a compound in cockroach shells which aggravates asthma which means that people from lower income families with roaches in their homes are more likely to suffer from lung complaints later in life