› added 8 years ago

136

TIL that Plants of the Fenestraria genus produce optical fibers made from crystalline oxalic acid to transmit light to subterranean photosynthetic sites.

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GQv5 TIL that Romans did not have a thumbs down for gladiators. However, they did have a thumbs up, which symbolized the death of the gladiator.
9omr TIL that the UK illegal cannabis industry is so large at £7 billion that It has to be included in the country’s GDP.
JEbB TIL that a room known as ‘Room 641A’ in the AT&T telecommunications backbone houses beamsplitters capable of monitoring all the internet traffic in the US. It was largely thought to be a myth until PRISM revealed its existence in 2007.
BBod TIL Last year banks collected $30 billion in overdraft Fees - Another way of saying that is collecting 30 Billion from people without any money.
YpWNA TIL that PG-13 system was created by the MPAA due to complaints regarding the violent nature of some scenes from two Spielberg films - Gremlins, and more prominently Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom. This was based on Spielberg's own suggestion to Jack Valenti, who created the original MPAA ratings.