› added 11 years ago

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TIL residents of Pompeii almost all died instantly from extreme heat rather than from suffocation fire to ash/toxic gases

Read more news.nationalgeographic.com

via reddit.com

XEJlr TIL during the middle Ages saffron was so expensive some traders would try to increase their profits by bulking up the herb with yellow marigold petals. When authorities in Nuremberg, where the herb was mainly traded, found out about these tainted parcels of saffron, the traders were burned alive.
m6MP TIL that in 2001, the King of Nepal was killed by his son, the Crown Prince, when he went on a shooting spree that killed nearly a dozen members of the royal family.
rRAJe TIL The elephant penis, when erect, can weigh 66 pounds and be more than 3 feet long. It’s also prehensile, which means the elephant can move it around and even use it to scratch hard to reach places or even swat flies.
Wmo4 TIL In 2015 a Chinese woman who was missing for a decade & presumed dead was found living in an internet cafe after playing games for 10 years.
gMvxA TIL that 6,000 years ago, extensive copper mining operations in North America polluted the Great Lakes region. Isle Royale, a national park found in the State of Michigan, features high levels of copper, lead, and potassium in the ancient sediments.