› added 9 years ago

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TIL that gagging when we see someone else vomiting is actually an evolved trait among primates. Humans would forage for food in groups. If any member of the group had an adverse reaction due to toxins in the food, it would be advantageous for the other members to take it out of their system too.

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BgBnd TIL an analysis of Beethoven's hair found high levels of lead, arsenic & mercury. The high amount of lead in particular likely contributed to his deafness. One lock of hair had 380 micrograms per gram & a second one had 258 micrograms. A normal level of lead is around 4 micrograms or less per gram.
xpww TIL that “Three days after Hurricane Katrina struck, authorities blocked the road that connects the city of Gretna to New Orleans. Thousands of evacuees say they were prevented from escaping the flooding and chaos, and that shots were fired over their heads.”
LRXP TIL: Japanese CEO, who took paycut for the employees’ salary, when told about America’s pay-gap, said “We in Japan learned during the bubble economy that businesses who pursue money first fail. The business world has lost sight of this basic tenet of business ethics.”
8axpa TIL that Ed Helms' missing tooth in "The Hangover" was not created with prosthetics or visual effects. Helms never had that tooth grow and received a dental implant as a teenager, and it was removed during filming.
d4Lj TIL an American POW repeatedly blinked his eyes in Morse Code during a televised interview, spelling out the word, “T-O-R-T-U-R-E.”