TIL: Chlorate candles are used on submarie and in space to generate oxygen by burning a mix of sodium chlorate and iron powder. They have an indefinite shelf life and are surprisingly safe.
TIL the world's current #1 female chess player treats chess as a hobby and is a Rhodes Scholar and a University professor at age 26.
TIL that Pygmies raised in a thick forest were unable to interpret distant objects. One thought that buffalo grazing in the distance were insects.
TIL The Snow in the Blizzard of 1949 was So Hard and So Deep they Used Dynamite to Blast the Trains Free
TIL only 14.5% of adult men are 6’0 and over, but comprise 58% of Fortune 500 CEOs. Only 3.9% are 6’2+, but comprise 30% of Fortune 500 CEOs.
TIL In Switzerland, local residents have a say in a person's passport application. In 2017, a vegan activist had her application rejected after residents voted against her 'for being annoying'
TIL the British Royal Navy has been instructed not to detain pirates of certain nationalities because the punishments for piracy in their home countries would make the pirates eligible for British asylum under British human rights legislation.
TIL that the agave americana (or, century plant) lives for 10 to 30 years, yet only flowers once before dying. At the end of its life, the plant sends up a laddered stalk that can reach 30 feet in height.
TIL that Parrots aren’t the only birds that can talk (imitate human speech). Mynah birds, Crows and Ravens have been known to do so as well