› added 5 years ago

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TIL Thanks to skyrocketing real estate prices, Manhattan gas stations are worth much more than the money the owner can make selling gas.

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Zr1D TIL Vladimir the Great of Russia was confronted with the choice of converting Russia to Christianity or to Islam. He eventually chose Christianity, because of Islamic teaching on alcohol, saying, “Drinking is the joy of all Rus’. We cannot exist without that pleasure.”
epyP5 TIL of the Glasgow effect, a term which refers to the lower life expectancy of residents of the Scottish city compared to the rest of the UK and Europe. Some hypotheses for this effect include stress, especially in childhood, leading to ill health; violent gang culture; and rate of premature births.
r8gW TIL: The RNA Tie Club was a scientific gentleman’s club created to “solve the riddle of the RNA structure and… how it built proteins”.The motto was “do or die; or don’t try”. The 20 members each had a designated amino acid and a tie. They would exchange ideas over cigars and alcohol. 8 won Nobels.
lrL7 TIL: Scurvy does not occur in most animals as they can make their own vitamin C. Only humans, higher primates, guinea pigs, bats, and some birds and fish lack the necessary enzyme.
8eGg4 TIL that when USS Taylor was transporting members of the press off USS Missouri after the signing of the Japanese surrender, the ship's mascot, a dog named Subic who had been abused during the Japanese occupation of The Philippines, bit one of the Japanese newsmen in the leg.