› added 7 years ago

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TIL after the holidays, the Rockefeller Christmas Tree is milled into lumber and donated to Habitat For Humanity to be used for building homes.

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via reddit.com

W7vYB TIL that Air Force One has taken off more times than it has landed due to a call sign change when Nixon resigned
nJv9 TIL the name for the 9mm Parabellum is derived from the latin adage, “Si vis pacem, para bellum.” If you seek peace, prepare for war.
b9kR9 TIL the daughter of Pakistan's ex PM used Typeface Calibri font to forge documents about illegal offshore companies. The documents were purportedly created in 2006. However, the font wasn’t publicly available to computer users worldwide until 2007.
jN6KR You probably know that your visual perception of the world is a bit different than your pets’. Dogs see things with less color than humans, snakes can see infrared, and if you have a pet bull, it lives in a world where red and green are the same color. This brings up a good question. Why do you have a pet bull? You should get a cat instead, and when you do, it is important to know that your new friend can’t focus on objects farther than 20 feet away. The point is, animals have evolved to see in a variety of ways. But how can we see things through their eyes? Marine biologist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer David Gruber collaborated with a research team to develop lights and camera filters that allowed him to do just that, underwater. Through their work, the team discovered biofluorescence in an abundance of aquatic species. This “glowing” trait has to do with how an organism absorbs and emits light. Research has indicated that this radiance is possibly used for communication and camouflage. One caveat: You need a certain species of eyes (or David’s camera) to see it. Swell sharks (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) have fluorescent proteins inside their skin, which are triggered by the ocean’s blue light, becoming visible to other swell sharks. David’s camera has special yellow filters that allow the simulation of a swell shark’s vision. It turns out there is a massive rave going on 500 meters below the ocean’s surface, and one of the glowing guests is a type of cat shark!
k81e TIL that three Popes fathered sons who succeeded them in the Papacy.