› added 4 years ago

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TIL that old houses in US could have hundreds of old rusting razor blades between the walls. This is the result of a safe solution designed to dispose blades after being used, which was to drop them in a slot in the wall.

78Yex TIL until 1998, in the Australian State of Victoria, it was illegal to change a lightbulb without an electricians license. If you were caught breaking this law, you would be fined 10$ (about $7.15 usd)
oB4Yo TIL soon after US President Andrew Jackson was elected, he was given a 630kg (1,400lb) block of cheese from Oswego(NY). Jackson kept this cheese in the White House for his entire term, leaving the home smelling of 4 year old cheese for months after he was replaced by Martin Van Buren in 1837.
epDpn TIL that eels in the River Thames (which flows through the middle of London) are “hyperactive” as a result of cocaine ingestion. Compared to other major cities, the level of cocaine entering London’s water system is much higher.
KO9Dw TIL that Mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, is not a part of our DNA, but instead is a bacteria that developed a symbiotic relationship with cells some 1.7 to 2 billion years ago.
LkLEr TIL "As a boy of five, John Brown witnessed a slave his own age being beaten with a fire shovel. He vowed to become a foe of slavery." As an abolitionist, he said "These men are all talk. What we need is action—action!" He was ultimately hanged as a traitor for acts which spurred the Civil War.