› added 10 years ago

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TIL that supplying all domestic water by sea water desalination would increase the United States’ energy consumption by around 10%, about the amount of energy used by domestic refrigerators.

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PWkg TIL The Economist received a letter from Boston protesting their usage of “niggardly,” an adjective meaning stingy or miserly, because it sounded like the racial slur. The magazine, based in Britain, responded with, “Why do we get such letters only from America?”
DdGP TIL mustard and wasabi aren’t spicy until crushed. Only when the plant’s cells are damaged can two otherwise harmless components mix and produce allyl isothiocyanate, the compound responsible for the familiar pungent taste.
d8ZKd TIL that Japanese hornets can grow up to the size of your thumb and stings you with a flesh dissolving acid that also acts as a pheromone to alert the other hornets to sting you until you die.
ebAE TIL Because of its fierce resistance to British occupation in the Revolutionary War, British commander Lord Cornwallis referred to Charlotte, NC as “a veritable hornet’s nest of rebellion”. This is how the Charlotte Hornets basketball team got its name.
4XYK5 TIL that in England prior to the mid-17th Century, Christmas was a twelve-day festival, and included the burning of the Yule log and playing traditional games. The Comwellian Revolt abolished Christmas, and the Industrial Revolution eroded the customs in communities which tried to hold onto them.