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TIL Differences in traits between wheat-growing north and the rice-farming south of China. Northerners were more direct and less concerned with social conformity than Southerners, who were more "interdependent, holistic-thinking and fiercely loyal to their friends" attributed to climate differences.

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x6457 TIL a team of researchers at UC Irvine found that the average attention span in 2004 was 150 seconds. In 2012 it was found to be 75 seconds, and recently was found to be 47 seconds.
xVeww TIL the creators of "Parks and Recreation" did research for the show by interviewing actual government officials. One said, "Well, I’m a libertarian, so I don’t really believe in the mission of my job. Yes, I’m aware of the irony." The character of Ron Swanson was born.
PLrZ TIL I learned that a “rat king” is a rare phenomenon when a number of rats become intertwined at their tails, which become stuck together with blood, dirt, ice, excrement or simply knotted. The animals reputedly grow together while joined at the tails and spread plague.
6Er07 TIL a man known only as "Django" drove his own boat out & freed a whale caught in a shark net off an Australian beach (without cutting the net). Before taking action, Django had waited hours for help from officials who had been called; when officials arrived, he faced a fine for acting alone.
KZm6 TIL that although lead paint was recognized as toxic as early as 1897 and banned by the League of Nations in 1922, the US did not ban lead paint until 1971.