› added 12 years ago

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TIL that 45 million year old yeast extracted from amber was revived and used to brew beer, launching the Fossil Fuels Brewing Company

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WkK44 TIL that the first major wave of the bubonic plague was the Justinianic plague of 541-547 A.D. It is named after the Byzantine emperor at the time; Justinian I. The disease killed 20% of the imperial capital and the ensuing pandemic is believed to have killed 25%-60% of Europe's population.
7rpNX TIL a common homeopathic cure for the flu is a 200C dilution of duck liver. A dilution of one molecule in the observable universe is 40C, therefore one would need to consume the equivalent of 10^320 observable universes of the substance to get a single molecule of duck liver.
kObN4 TIL before her career as a well known TV chef Julia Childs worked for the OSS during World War II (a fact only made public after the files were declassified in 2008) where she transcribed Top Secret documents and went on to develop a new shark repellent.
Wk0x8 TIL of the Norwegian Political Party called "The Political Party", established by two Norwegian Comedians. It was a satirical, but nevertheless real party, with slogans like; "Johan Golden — Your slave in parliament". The party got 1% of all votes in the general election of 2001.
911D TIL a guy upset with his then girlfriend for not properly mourning his father’s death hatched a plan to marry and conceive a child and then kill it later after the wife had bonded with it. He was convicted for murdering the 7 month old.