› added 8 years ago

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TIL that many mistakenly believe that suicide by overdosing on Paracetamol renders them unconscious before death ensues, when in fact it is a lengthy and very painful process that could take up to a week.

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rN40d TIL that a heavily Christianized version of Buddha’s story was immensely popular in Europe in the 11th century as the Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat; although British became first aware of Buddhism’s existence as a religion only in the 19th century.
wodRo TIL sharks are older than the Rings of Saturn
8LXP TIL that California uses inmates to fight forest fires. Prisoners take the jobs because it reduces their sentence, gets them outside, and pays better than typical prison jobs.
BgB7D TIL Shakespeare's accent was (probably) closer to American English than British English
1aXyd TIL Galileo used a crude refracting telescope. His initial version only magnified 8x but was soon refined to 20x magnification. The main problem with his telescopes was their very narrow field of view, typically about half the width of the Moon