› added 1 year ago

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TIL that Euclid's Parallel Postulate had no mention of parallel lines. Although parallel lines exist as a consequence of the postulate, the postulate actually describes how the opposite case arises: how lines intersect. Parallel lines are the negative case of the postulate: lines that never meet.

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neR07 TIL of the Second Mexican Empire where Napoleon ruthlessly took advantage of a distracted America post Civil-War by engaging in an imperial plan to annex Mexico into the French sovereignty. Napoleon aimed to create a New Virginia Colony in central Mexico & exempted new colonists from paying taxes.
Wkpr8 TIL the first generation of stars in the Universe were all several thousand times more massive than the Sun and were made of hydrogen, helium, and trace amounts of lithium. All the heavier chemical elements were formed within their cores. One of these stars was observed for the first time in 2015.
EgJO0 TIL that SimCity was going to have an NES version along with the SNES version but was then canceled after being in favor of focusing on the SNES version.
GDON TIL the mercury everyone is so scared of in vaccines (thimerosal) is actually ethylmercury, while the toxic mercury which can damage the nervous system is methylmercury. The same way that we drink ethylalcohol (ethanol) but methylalcohol (methanol) will cause you to go blind, or just plain kill you.
NnZP TIL guards at New Mexico State Penitentiary had a “snitch game”. They would label inmates as snitches, let them be abused, and wait for them to turn into informants to escape their tormentors.