› added 2 years ago

180

TIL: Famine is not a natural disaster — it's primarily man-made.

Read more npr.org

via reddit.com

R5MWj TIL to decide what measurement system America should use, John Quincy Adams took 3 1/2 years to produce a 268 page Report on Weights and Measures that ultimately concluded changing to the French metric system would be too difficult for the young nation. Congress took no action on the report.
nj99 TIL that the “Shadow of the valley of death” from psalm 23 is not just a metaphor, but a road between Jericho and Jerusalem where people would be ambushed.
69Nn8 TIL 55 million years ago, the North Pole was a lot like Miami today. There were palm trees and alligators, and the temperature was around 74° F.
yVbRM TIL That the dried up white dog poop common before the '90s was due to dog food containing too much calcium and bone meal.
OGVZ4 TIL that in 2020, researchers tried to determine the actual effects of ingesting George's Marvelous Medicine (from the Roald Dahl book), consisting of shampoo, anti-freeze, brown paint, floor polish, and 30 other household items. It would cause vomiting, kidney injury, convulsions, and likely death.