› added 9 years ago

150

TIL Vicodin is so named because it is 6x (VI) stronger than codeine.

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X0PAE TIL The clarinet hit its peak in jazz during the Swing Era of the 30s and 40s but was replaced by the saxophone after the rise of bebop. Artists of the 40s and 50s considered the clarinet passé and unfashionable in jazz
GYQXj TIL that Japan once fooled the americans that they were going to invade Alaska in WW2 when in fact no one was present in the area, the americans landed troops on the island of Kiska to prevent the invasion and still suffered 313 casualties from landmines and friendly fire.
dWe8 TIL To be a taxi driver in London you need to pass an extremely difficult exam on street routes requiring on average 12 attempts and ~3 years of preparation. The material is referred to as “The Knowledge”.
JY1Wj TIL of The Unfinished Portrait, a forever incomplete painting of Franklin D. Roosevelt. It captured his last waking moments before he collapsed from a sudden stroke. He never regained consciousness, and died later that day.
5Yk18 TIL some monkeys, like the Japanese Macaque, have the necessary vocal anatomy to produce humanlike speech, only inhibited by the fact that their brain lacks the capability to control the muscles responsible for speech.