› added 5 years ago

1897

TIL During the Dust Bowl, in Texas and Oklahoma static electricity was so bad children would run up to their mothers for a hug, and both would wake up on the ground, knocked unconscious by a massive static shock. Two men shaking hands could knock each other out.

Read more io9.gizmodo.com

via reddit.com

m10By TIL of sawstop technology: It's patented by a single manufracturer who doesn't license its use to anyone else in the industry. For years, it was the only patent able to prevent table saw accidents and tried to use their patent rights to prevent making any similar safety system, with partial success
AN7Od TIL about the Pentagon Pizza Meter, where any time any big geopolitical event is imminent (a war, invasion, assassination, etc.) pizza orders at pizza shops near the pentagon soar, as the Pentagon workers are loading up on food for a long night of analysis and observation.
PdAL TIL that whilst left-handed and right-handed people have similar IQ scores, people who identify as ambidextrous have significantly lower levels - particularly in arithmetic, memory and reasoning. The exact reason for this is unknown.
J1Rlj TIL that during the Cold War, the CIA launched operation codenamed 'Aedinosaur' during which they sent thousands of balloons carrying copies of George Orwell's Animal Farm into Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary.
WKQL TIL Using a chloroform soaked rag as an incapacitating agent is pure fiction. It is nearly impossible to incapacitate someone using chloroform in this manner.