› added 10 years ago

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TIL that scientists were monitoring whale stress levels by analyzing their poop and found that their stress plummeted immediately following the 9/11 attacks. Turns out this was due to all ship traffic being halted which quieted the oceans of low frequency noise which whales use to communicate

Read more online.wsj.com

via reddit.com

BBMy TIL that the voice of Tony the Tiger (Thurl Ravenscroft) was also the singer of You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch
xV77o TIL A lot of cigarettes are made with small holes in the filter, such to produce less (2-20 times) nicotine and tar when tested in laboratories for public health, using the prescribed ISO method, compared to the other available CI method or reality.
LkyX0 TIL that the annual 72,500 roubles rent that USA payed for the ambassadors house in Moscow was equal to 3 dollars in 2001 post-soviet inflation value. Since the US-Soviet contract didn't provide for currency fluctuations, USA argued that the rent should stay fixed.
loM1K TIL of Cherophobia, which consists of a person’s fear or anxiety to activities that could make them happy, often believing something bad would occur, that happiness can make them bad people or even that looking for it is a waste of time.
DQeXY TIL that the entire population of Toulon, France was temporarily evicted in 1543 so that a fleet of the allied Ottomans could winter in the city. 30,000 soldiers spent 8 months there, the cathedral was converted into a mosque, and the king had to pay them 800,000 gold coins before they would leave.