› added 5 months ago

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TIL that in ancient Rome, there was a method of birth control where women would use silphium, a plant that was so effective it was harvested to extinction.

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7rokL TIL Keanu Reeves was initially offered Val Kilmer's role in the 1995 film Heat. He turned it down to play Hamlet in a 789 seat theatre in Manitoba.
EgZLx TIL On 5th November families, schools and communities across the UK burn an effigy of a man who tried to start an insurrection.
KOwbJ TIL Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in the Little Mermaid, also provides the voice of Barbie in Toy Story and was named a Disney Legend for her contributions to Disney.
Z80vp TIL that an Australian bird, called the rainbow lorikeet, routinely gets drunk from spring to summer. The small birds drink the fermented crimson flower nectar from the Weeping Boer-bean tree. When intoxicated these birds make loud drunken noises which many people find bothersome.
5Y7ND TIL Kleptothermy (heat-stealing) is observed in some male Canadian red sided garter snakes that mimic females by producing female-like pheromones when they emerge from hibernation so that other males mistakenly attempt to mate with them, thus transferring heat to them.