› added 8 months ago

74

TIL the Sahel is greening

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W71L9 TIL that when Augustus Caesar's came of age as a young man, he frequently had to attend the temple under the cover of darkness to evade the attention of older noblewomen who were attracted to his "comeliness" and "youthful charm".
grPvA TIL of Kermes dye, a Crimson pigment highly valued in the middle ages. It was obtained by grinding dried female Kermes scale insects that carried unhatched eggs within themselves. At the peak of it's popularity, Kermes dye surpassed Tyrian purple as a symbol of status and wealth.
GADbN TIL that people born blind cannot become schizophrenic
nejZb TIL Australian doctor Barry Marshall was mocked by physicians of his time when he hypothesized that the bacterial species H. pylori can cause stomach ulcers. To prove his hypothesis, he drank cultured H. pylori and developed stomach ulcers as a result. He later received the Nobel Prize in 2005.
7r0eX TIL that a guy filed a change-of-address form to the USPS where he changed the address of the UPS headquarters and got all their mail sent to his apartment. It took three months before this was discovered.