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TIL soaps have been made for millennia. Alongside making fire and cooking food, turning oils and fats into soap is one of the oldest and simplest chemical reactions known to humankind. It is believed that the first soaps were accidentally made by fat dripping into the ashes of cooking fires.

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W7ZyX TIL I learned that in 2007 an initiative called the Great Green Wall was started to restore the vegetation of the Sahel and to stop the expansion of the Sahara. The project is funded by the world bank(most of it). The wall goes across the entire part of Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia
jNnJM TIL of the sunk cost fallacy. It is the general tendency for people to continue an endeavor, or continue consuming or pursuing an option, if they’ve invested time or money or some resource in it, which becomes a fallacy if it’s pushing you to do things that are making you unhappy or worse off.
J1MM1 TIL despite their strength and size, elephant's backs are not designed to carry weight as their bones actually extend upwards. This puts their spine at risk of 'caving in' when used for work like tourist rides. Left, ex-riding ele with caved-in back; Right, normal dome-shaped back.
WkRo4 Today I learned that a pomeranian pup set the record for longest yawn that lasted 23 minutes and 8 seconds.
D1pmj TIL that Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the son of the famous president, was the only General to land in the first wave of the D-Day landings, despite having a heart condition that forced him to walk with a cane. He succumbed to a heart attack a month later, and was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor.