› added 3 years ago

182

TIL that Americans spend around $72B in lottery tickets every year, with the chances of winning being less likely than getting attacked by a shark, being killed by a vending machine, being elected president, being struck by lightning, coming down with the plague, or being killed by a falling coconut

Read more fool.com

via reddit.com

VkdD TIL the original founders/owners of Macy’s died on the Titanic and were the old couple in the movie who went to sleep as the ship went down.
lp6A TIL ‘patient zero’ of last year’s West African ebola outbreak was a Guinean child who played with bats residing in a hollow cola tree. It is unknown whether the bats were the ultimate source of the infection since either by coincidence or as a result of that public warning, the tree was burnt down.
rNWZM TIL that Former U.S. Senator and Actor George Murphy is the only United States Senator represented by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
GYEQG TIL there is no correct way to install an electrical outlet. They are placed "upside-down" for many reasons including letting you know it is attached to a light switch, for grounding purposes, to reduce chances of electric shock.
9YM5G TIL up until around the 1970s, hospital laboratory workers used mouth pipetting to transfer patient's blood for testing from one container to the next, frequently getting the patients blood or other chemicals in their mouth.