› added 3 years ago

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TIL Counterfeit detector pens used in grocery stores contain an iodine solution that reacts with the starch in wood-based paper to create a black stain. When the solution is applied to the fiber-based paper used in real bills, no discoloration occurs.

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VBElD TIL that writers die young, with poets tending to have the shortest lifespans compared to novelists, playwrights, and non-fiction writers; the phenomenon is cross-cultural.
dbN8 TIL in old English the possessive (eg. cat’s) was marked by -es. This was shortened to -s, which is why there’s an apostrophe (as it represents the missing ‘e’)
nW6NY TIL 20 years ago, in India, hundreds of women lynched a man akku Yadav in a courtroom when he remorselessly taunted his victims and threatened "to teach them a lesson". He was stabbed at least 70 times with kitchen knives and his penis was cut off.
mxmKP TIL that while trapped in a Chilean mine for 69 days, Edison Peña ran several miles a day underground. He has since ran in the New York Marathon and Tokyo Marathon.
6XGZ TIL that by many significant measures, the world really is becoming more peaceful. Over the last decade, total combat deaths, civilian casualties, and worldwide public tolerance for armed violence have been lower than at any other time in the past century.