› added 4 years ago

136

TIL about Calixa Lavallée a Canadian who fought for the Union in the American Civil War. He later went on to compose the music for “O Canada” the Canadian national anthem. 33-55,000 Canadians fought for the Union in the Civil War.

Read more thecanadianencyclopedia.ca

via reddit.com

VMmpQ TIL in an effort to keep birds of prey away from airports, French scientists discovered that raptors were repelled by an LED screen featuring a "googly eyes" image that appears to enlarge. Screens at an airport with over 8,000 bird sightings successfully reduced raptor visits during a 5 week trial.
jNvWj TIL a study by researchers at a London university found that Botswana has the most unique folk and traditional music among the 137 countries investigated, followed by Ivory Coast, Chad, and Benin. China's music differs the most from its neighbors.
w0m1 TIL people used to be given malaria to cure syphilis. The syphilis was unable to survive the high temperature from the malaria induced fever.
KOLQQ TIL the 2002 Canadian cartoon 'RoboRoach' (which followed the story of a cyborg cockroach) was inspired by the true story of cyborg cockroaches created by scientists at the University of Tokyo
Xr8X TIL of a tragic literal Death by PowerPoint – Boeing’s analysis of damage to Space Shuttle Columbia was obscured by terrible PowerPoint slides, leading NASA officials to OK the fatal reentry.