› added 3 weeks ago

5

TIL in 1964 the US imposed a 25% tariff on light trucks in retaliation for tariffs imposed on US chicken by France and W Germany. Soon after, Volkswagen cargo vans and pickup trucks practically disappeared from the US market.

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1aAmd TIL Farmers need 214 liters of water to grow 1 kg of tomatoes. The Dutch use only 4 liters and are the 2nd largest exporter of food in the world.
1aX7d TIL that many inventions credited to Thomas Edison were in fact stolen from other inventors. Edison ruthlessly patented inventions from other inventors so he could claim them as his own work.
j9WM TIL that Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus skeleton ever found, was going to be put in a private collection before companies including Disney and McDonald’s helped fund the Field Museum’s effort to purchase her for display to the public.
wKjE TIL that the guitarist of the band ‘Phoenix’ was once in a band with friends/future-founders of 'Daft Punk’. They disbanded shortly after receiving a harsh review from a British music magazine in which the reviewer referred to the band’s sound as “a daft punky thrash”.
40pg TIL that, on worldwide average, 96 elephants are killed per day, 96 cows are killed every 10 seconds and 96 chickens are killed every 0.05 seconds.