› added 1 year ago

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TIL that in mid-6th century CE two monks smuggled silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire, which led to the creation of the Byzantine silk industry that long held a silk monopoly in Europe.

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p84ne TIL as a play on the copyright infringement common in the former Soviet Union, the packaging of Borat's DVD mimics a foreign bootleg DVD. The slipcover is in English but with an all-Cyrillic text and is made to look poorly photocopied. The disc is a parody on Memorex in the form of Demorez DVD-R.
p8jMN TIL Nobel Prize-Winning physicist Richard Feynman put himself on the FBI's Do Not Call list
Y7kKx TIL During the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, up to 90% of the Damage was Caused Not by the Quake, but by the Subsequent 30+ Fires
N7XlM TIL that the Chinese use drones equipped with flame-throwers to fight trash stuck in power lines.
wL6E TIL F-8 Crusader pilot Clliff Judkins survived a 15,000 foot fall when his parachute failed to open.