› added 3 years ago

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TIL about industrial melanism,where darkly pigmented insects are selected over lightly coloured ones in industrial areas,because the trees are blackened by soot and provide camouflage.

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e00Lk This week's Newsweek proclaims that "Heaven Is Real"--a neurologist concludes it after a near-death experience. But how much do we know about those experiences?
16pY8 TIL you can harvest pearls without killing the oyster! They are taken out of the water and opened very slightly so that the muscle keeping them closed is not injured. Special tools are used to gently remove the pearl and then the oyster goes back into the water!
WkPpN TIL of Roberto Solis who was sentenced to life in prison in 1969 for murdering an armored truck driver. He became a successful poet in prison which led multiple well known writers to petition for his release. After he was released he robbed an armored truck for $3 million and is still on the run
yVPWe TIL of Jon-Erik Hexum, an actor who was fooling around with a gun between delays on a TV set in 1984. He jokingly raised the gun to his head and said “Can you believe this crap?” before pulling the trigger and blowing his skull open with the explosion of the blank at close range.
xV4N7 TIL The Ming Dynasty did not have the Ancient Chinese Secret Commercial, much less the Calgon. They use artificial alkali to clean their clothes. This gives us an idea of what detergent the ancient Chinese used. A very good Ming Dynasty blog post.