› added 6 years ago

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TIL that Earth Day was conceived by a Wisconsin Senator named Gaylord Nelson after witnessing a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California

Read more earthday.org

via reddit.com

8Ylb TIL the main component of education in Turkmenistan has been almost completely replaced by memorization of the “Ruhnama”, the president’s personal autobiography. An engineer reported that all his son learns is passages. “He has begun telling me off because he has memorised more of the book than me.”
4XA6N TIL The title of "World's Greatest Athlete" has been given to the person who wins the decathlon. This began when King Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, "You, sir, are the world's greatest athlete" after Thorpe won the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.
D87V TIL that human saliva contains natural painkiller which is nearly six times more potent than morphine.
b9pN9 TIL Parasitoid Wasps pierce their pointy stingers into other insects. They lay eggs inside the living hosts, and the wasp hatchings eat their way out of the still-living prey.
ybWJ TIL Ger Frits, a man from Amsterdam has organised the funerals of the 20 or so people who die completely alone each year. He places flowers on the coffin and accompanies it on its last journey. A poem is also written for the dead person and read at their funeral