› added 6 years ago

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TIL that Len Bias was selected by the Boston Celtics as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft on June 17, and died two days later from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose. He is considered by some sportswriters to be the greatest player not to play at the professional level.

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kOZk5 TIL of Stubbins Ffirth who attempted to prove that Yellow Fever wasn't contagious by smearing vomit, blood, saliva, and urine from patients in open wounds on his arms. While he never got sick, it later emerged that the samples he used had come from late-stage patients who were no longer contagious
ZKLR TIL that the schizophrenic artist Mary Barnes discovered her talent while undergoing treatment at Kingsley Hall during which she was encouraged to regress to a childlike state and paint on the walls with her feces. When they needed a solution for the smell, they decided to give her paint.
Ydjx TIL rice can grow in a wide range of environments, but it is typically grown in submerged fields because it can tolerate such conditions while most weeds and pests cannot.
JYOM8 TIL There are only 5 countries (the Bahamas, Belize, the Cayman Islands, Palau and the United States) in the world that use the Fahrenheit scale as the standard temperature measurement in everyday life.
695xZ TIL that Bee orchids mimic the shape and scent of bees in order to lure them into ‘pseudocopulation’, where the male insect attempts to mate with the flower. While the bee gets nothing but a wasted effort, the orchid transfers some of its pollen to the bee