TIL The Earliest Known Use of Rubber Dates Back to Ancient Mesoamerican Civilizations of the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec. They used the sap of rubber trees to make a variety of products, including balls for a ball game and waterproof coats.

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1. Some tour guides once told me some pretty righteous stories about the Maya Ballgame. It would appear that the loser of the game was–or at least could be–ritually disemboweled and beheaded. But one person claimed it was the *winner* who won the privilege of execution.

   Then–and this is the part I didn’t see coming–the severed head would be put in a net and a dude would swing it over his head to sprinkle the crowd with blood, like a GWAR show gone too far. Mayan civilization was very GWAR-like, now that I think of it.

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