› added 6 years ago

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TIL Pope Clement VIII loved coffee: he supposedly tasted the "Muslim drink" [coffee] at the behest of his priests, who wanted him to ban it. "Why, this Satan's drink is so delicious, that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall fool Satan by baptizing it..."

j6ybR TIL Aroldis Chapman's 105 mph pitch isn't the fastest of all time. When Nolan Ryan played, pitches weren't clocked until they were 10 feet from the plate. So with the proper adjustments, if thrown today, Ryan's 100.9 mph pitch (in the 9th inning) in 1974 would've clocked at about 108.5 mph.
djEQ TIL During WWII, George de Hevesy used aqua regia to dissolve the Nobel Prizes of German physicists Max von Laue and James Franck to prevent them being confiscated. He left the solution in his lab, where it was ignored. After the war, he precipitated the gold out and the medals were recast.
JYRJl For those who struggle with insomnia, Dr. Kennedy said she’d suggest showering at night, about 90 minutes before bed. “The body naturally cools down as bedtime approaches, in sync with the circadian rhythm,” she said. “Showering artificially raises the temperature again and allows for a faster cool down, which seems to hasten sleep.”
4XDKb TIL that cheetahs can be easily tamed and were kept as pets in ancient Egypt and used to hunt in Rome
QPDd TIL that on April Fool’s Day 1997, Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak and Jeopardy host Alex Trebek swapped shows for the day.