› added 11 years ago

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TIL that in 1931, after Texas Rangers barricaded a bridge spanning the TX-OK border, Oklahoma Gov. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray appeared at the site armed with a revolver, backed by the Okla. National Guard, to reopen the bridge. The bloodless “Red River Bridge War” even got the attention of Adolf Hitler.

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xVElD TIL that cashews actually grow on 20 feet (6 meters) tall evergreen trees, the nut we eat is part of a larger fruit called a cashew apple, and the exterior of an un-shelled cashew has the same toxins as poison ivy.
QNGpp TIL A young man pinched his nose and clamped his mouth shut to hold in a forceful sneeze and ended up barely able to speak or swallow, with considerable pain. Air bubbles reached into the deep tissue and muscles of his chest and it took seven days for him to recover in hospital
epD5 Today I learned that many of the men who acted as guards along the Great Wall of China in the Middle Ages spent their whole lives there. They were born there, raised there, they married there, died there, and were even buried within the wall.
e0dN5 TIL diclofenac is toxic to some birds and its use in livestock is linked to a drop in vulture populations, which causes a rise in feral dogs populations and an increased risk of rabies transmission
kkR5 TIL that after being rejected by 20 publishers, Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi classic Dune was finally picked up by Chilton Books. The publisher was previously known only for those big car repair manuals sold in auto parts stores.