Post * vQv8 — Curious Curator

› added 9 years ago

201

TIL that unless you donate blood directly at a hospital, your blood is likely being resold for up to $200/pint back to the hospital by the local blood bank to the to recoup their costs of collection.

Read more

7r9L7 TIL in one Simpsons episode, Homer coats his mouth in hot wax in order to eat hot peppers. Fox censors sent a note to writers, asking that he scream in pain to stop kids watching from copying him. No scream was added; instead dialogue from Ralph Wiggum questioning Homer on his action was used.

LkdWQ TIL about "naumachia", the Ancient Roman practice of filling a specialised coliseum/amphitheatre basin full of water and forcing convicts and PoWs to fight to the death in staged naval battles, complete with fully armed warships, for the Caesar's entertainment

e0xM4 TIL of May Bradford, a Red Cross volunteer during WWI who wrote over 25,000 letters and notes, an average of 12 a day, for wounded soldiers who were too ill or too uneducated to write to their family. She also sat with the injured and dying and considered herself to be a surrogate mother to them.

gMEm4 TIL extremely high taxes ($5.85/pack) have made New York City the cigarette smuggling capital of America. 57% of cigarettes consumed are smuggled, usually from Virginia or North Carolina

gM54A TIL of Gus the Central Park Zoo Polar Bear (1985-2013). Reporters dubbed him "neurotic", "depressed", "flaky", and "bipolar" turning him into a "symbol of the stress of living in New York City". As part of his therapy and treatment, Gus was the first zoo animal in history to be treated with Prozac.