› added 10 years ago

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TIL when a flea is infected by Y.pestis (Black Death/plague), the bacteria build up and form a film that blocks the flea’s esophagus. After it bites a host, the flea cannot eat until it has vomited up this blockage, spreading a concentrated dose of the bacteria to its target.

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LKKQ TIL that in the 1920s a Chicago man convinced his wife to pull out all her teeth then refused to get her dentures because it was ‘cheaper to feed her with soup than solid food’. She took him to court and he was ordered to get her 2 new sets of teeth and a beefsteak a week.
Oo4k1 TIL that of the 20 most watched television broadcasts, 19 are Super Bowls. The lone TV series episode, at #9, is the series finale of MAS*H in 1983.
D0xg TIL that the director of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogies, Sir Peter Jackson would like to direct an episode of Doctor Who, and he wants a Dalek in payment.
avnA TIL that you will need a telescope 50 times the size of the Hubble to see objects left by humans on the moon. Even if we use the Hubble Space Telescope to look at the moon, a football stadium sized object would appear as only one pixel.
9wLED TIL in Germany it is illegal to use the familiar "du" form when addressing a police officer. You must always use the polite "Sie" form of address, and can be fined up to €600 for failing to do so.