› added 9 years ago

107

TIL the average person from Papua New Guinea consumes 1100 lbs. (500 kg) of sweet potatoes per year. The next highest is the Solomon Islands at 350 lbs. (160 kg) per year.

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vPp4L TIL that in 1958, Burma-Shave offered a "free trip to Mars" for sending in 900 empty jars. A grocery store manager, Arliss French, took it literally and collected all 900. To save face, Burma-Shave sent him, fully dressed as an astronaut, to Moers, Germany (of which they felt was pronounced Mars).
741O TIL the term “j'accuse”, coming from the title of an 1898 open letter from writer Emile Zola to the president of France during the Dreyfus Affair, is a synonym for a brave public expression of opinion against the abuse of power.
4j1b TIL a 400 pound Scotsman once went 382 days without eating. He only consumed water and vitamins and ended the diet at 180 pounds.
VM7vB TIL Angelina Jolie had a mastectomy due to having an 87% risk of breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer. Her chance of developing breast cancer dropped from 87% to under 5% after the mastectomy.
69GKZ TIL about the Mandan, or "Welsh Indians." A tribe of Native Americans with a European appearance and a language that sounded like Welsh, they were at first believed to have been the descendants of the legendary Welsh explorer, Prince Madoc, who was said to have sailed to America in the 1170s.