› added 5 years ago

91

TIL that in 1688 false reports of Irish soldiers burning and massacring English towns prompted a mass panic, with thousands of people arming themselves and preparing to resist non-existent groups of marauding Irishmen.

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rYrw TIL a diver drowned when the shells of a giant clam snapped on his arm as he reached inside. When his companions found the body, they also discovered the world’s largest pearl (14 lbs) in the clam.
4kyvN TIL the Skilled Veterans Corps was a group all over the age of 60 that volunteered to help stabilise the Fukushima nuclear plant. They believed they should face the dangers of radiation, not young people
bJ6Z TIL that New Belgium Brewing company (makers of Fat Tire, Blue Paddle, etc) will only ship their beers cold, but since it is illegal in Oklahoma and Utah liquor stores to sell cold full-percentage beer (+3.2%), New Belgium refuses to distribute its product there.
QNWZ9 TIL there’s a 1400 sq mile island off the coast of Yemen that’s described as “the most alien place on earth,” and 37% of its plant species are endemic.
QNRrd TIL of the RP FLIP, an open ocean research vessel owned by the US Office of Naval Research. It is a one of a kind vessel capable of flipping orientation from horizontal to vertical by filling/emptying an incredibly long water reservoir.