TIL Wheat and Barley were ancient Egyptian pregnancy tests. A woman would urinate on bags of barley and wheat and if they sprouted, she was likely pregnant. A 1963 study found that this was accurate ~70% of the time https://ift.tt/8ker6M3

TIL that The Simpsons episode "Homer at the Bat" has saved at least two lives because it features a poster explaining how the Heimlich maneuver works. This information helped Chris Bencze save his brother's life in 1992 and helped Aiden Bateman save his friend Alex Hardy in 2007. https://ift.tt/58lo3sk

TIL in October 2005 a woman hanged herself in a tree near a residential road and was mistaken as a Halloween decoration for over 3 hours https://ift.tt/W0I7Xcr

TIL in ancient Babylon, they worshiped the god Marduk via his statue. Enemy rulers who defeated Babylon would often take the statue. All five kings known to have taken the statue of Marduk from Babylon died violently at the hands of their own family members https://ift.tt/7E0T8Vk

TIL: The government of North Korea assigns every citizen a social class based on the political, social, and economic background of their direct ancestors as well as the behavior of their relatives. Descendants from wealthy families (pre-revolution) are given the lowest status. https://ift.tt/bjnLSZW

TIL that in 2018 Hasbro trademarked the smell of Play-Doh, which they described as "the combination of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough." https://ift.tt/dk23pli

TIL that the Donkey Kong character who was featured in the original 1981 arcade game is not the same Donkey Kong with the red necktie that we know of today; the original Donkey Kong is in fact Cranky Kong. https://ift.tt/ZpHjz3e

TIL Ancient Roman women would wear wigs featuring blonde German hair and black Indian hair mixed together at the same time to show off the civilizations they conquered https://ift.tt/OvUD2EA

TIL about Anna May Wong, the first Chinese-American film star. Her career began in silent movies era and continued to her death. One of the first to adopt the flapper style of the 20s, she was voted “world’s best dressed woman” in 1934. She will be featured in the American Women quarter series. https://ift.tt/p7wg0XF

TIL the price of textbooks increases by an average of 12% with each new edition https://ift.tt/oDG1hZC

TIL That King Saud of Saudi Arabia, The second king of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia had a total of 108 sons and daughters. https://ift.tt/8xqAO5a

TIL Guy Fawkes wasn't hanged but jumped to his death to avoid the agony of hanging. He broke his neck on the fall. https://ift.tt/iAEvnBh

TIL The Fairey Swordfish biplane was considered out of date by 1939 but was effective throughout WW2. Swordfish sunk more enemy tonnage than any other plane, sunk numerous U-boats, disabled the Bismarck, and remained in use into 1945. https://ift.tt/P1AKh9z

TIL some insomniacs may have nights of "sleep misperception", where it feels like you were awake all night but you actually slept for hours. https://ift.tt/3cxeOD9

TIL the pet food company Chewy sends flowers and a card when a customer's pet dies. They will reimburse the purchase of unopened food and suggest it be donated to a shelter. They also offer the option of talking to someone about the grief of losing a pet. https://ift.tt/0JdVCuF

TIL that there's a cafe in Tokyo called Dawn ver.β which hires paralyzed/limited mobility people to operate robot servers remotely so that they can still earn https://ift.tt/eByVO3r

TIL: the 1st mobile phone call was made by the inventor Martin Cooper on April 3, 1973 to troll his competitor at AT&T. His message? "Joel, this is Marty. I'm calling you from a cellphone, a real, handheld, portable cellphone," https://ift.tt/KxmMta3

TIL that sunlight in pluto is still bright enough that you could read a book on the surface https://ift.tt/vSkQ4Ri

TIL That Vietnam has the most favorable view of the United States in the world https://ift.tt/Uswo3rh

TIL they made a "Clerks" TV show that was so bad they never even aired the pilot episode. https://ift.tt/hO8gbCn

TIL Because of their weight and height, adults using a Slip N Slide risk serious back and neck injuries that have resulted in paralysis for some https://ift.tt/9pqEzAl