› added 5 years ago

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TIL about Aqua Tofana. A poison invented by a woman named Giulia Tofana. she sold the poison over a period of 50 years to women trapped in difficult marriages as they had no other way to get out of it in 17th century Italy. Over 600 victims are alleged to have died from this poison.

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via reddit.com

5VYBD TIL that, because of a certain time zone is more than 12 hours offset from UTC (Line Islands, Kiribati, UTC+14), it can simultaneously be three different days on Earth at the same time!
loGeK TIL that sailors slept in hammocks, as they stayed well balanced even if the ship was in motion. The Royal Navy formally adopted the sling hammock in 1597 much after Columbus discovered them in the Bahamas. Sailors got so accustomed to hammocks that they even took them back on leave.
o8r7 TIL cheese was produced before recorded history and probably derived from storing milk in the removed stomachs of animals
JYk1V TIL That from 1906-1920, there was a movement in the US to remove all silent letters and irregular spellings from the English language (eg: although->altho), funded by Andrew Carnegie and supported by Teddy Roosevelt
Br5jW TIL cannabis is invasive in North America, referred to as 'feral cannabis,' 'wild marijuana,' and 'ditch weed' when it grows in the wild. Seeds can lie dormant for 7-10 years and the wild plant can damage farm equipment. Feral cannabis is cultivated in North Korea.