› added 8 months ago

207

TIL that "Firehawks" are birds that can intentionally start bushfires to aid their hunting.

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OGeba TIL St. Patrick's day originally was celebrated with blue. George III needed to create a new order of chivalry for the kingdom of Ireland and needed a color for it. The Order of the Garter for the previous Kingdom of England already used a dark blue, so a lighter blue was used. It changed in ~1800.
w0X8 TIL OK Soda was a soft drink by The Coca-Cola Company made in 1993, that used unusual advertising tactics such as negative publicity. The drink’s slogan was “Things are going to be OK.” The drink didn’t do so OK and was discontinued in 1995.
Z4Ao TIL that North Korea has 3G coverage for 94% of its population, more than for example Germany with 88%.
a8N1M TIL Adenosine is an organic compound that, when injected, stops the heart for a few seconds and is used to treat heartbeats, that are too fast (140-250bpm), in effect turning it off an on again.
16ZnP TIL Bram stoker's notes for Dracula contain little research into Vlad the Impaler. Much of the modern relation to Vlad the Impaler rely on Raymond McNally's 1972 book, In Search of Dracula. Dracula may have been more based on the repeatedly killed Abhartach of Irish folklore.