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TIL: Canadian insurance companies run a cloud seeding program to prevent the formation of large hailstones and reduce the amount of insurance claims for hail damage

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WkY7X TIL that in 1997, a scientist died when one drop of dimethylmercury permeated her latex glove. It took several months for the chemical to kill her. Prior to her death, no one knew that it could soak through latex or how it killed people.
v1aBL TIL that for free, the US Treasury Department provides blind US citizens with a machine to read their currency for them. "The iBill is compact enough to slip into a side pocket. It can identify all US currency," They have also developed free apps to read currency with a smartphone.
9BMM TIL in the Ecuadorian Rain Forest trees have been discovered that can “walk” up to 20 meters in a year
aKjb TIL that in 1988, Iran began a country-wide purge of political prisoners. People were beaten for missing daily prayers. One woman died after 22 days and 550 lashes, and the authorities certified her death as suicide because it was ‘she who had made the decision not to pray’.
b9kNa TIL that by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, France was conscripting men shorter than five feet (1.5 m) tall.