› added 9 years ago

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TIL that a decimal point was misplaced when the iron content of Spinach was measured in the 1870’s, leading people to believe it had 10x more iron than reality, and made you stronger. This is why the creators of Popeye decided he would eat spinach to grow his muscles.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

nWlyP Today I learned McDonald's french fries supposedly tasted better prior to 1990. That is when McDonald's stopped using beef fat and began using vegetable oil with beef seasoning(making the fried not vegan or vegetarian).
7r7KZ TIL about the Newton Disc, which is a color wheel that when spun really fast, turns white.
RKGl TIL during pre-Civil War America, when free, blacks disproportionately became slave masters. About 28 percent of free blacks owned slaves—as opposed to less than 4.8 percent of southern whites, and dramatically more than the 1.4 percent of all white Americans who owned slaves.
YpdGP TIL that women’s periods don’t sync when they are together
MePZ8 TIL the Rocky Mountains locust has the Guinness world record for the largest animal gathering in the world and is mysteriously extinct one century ago.