› added 3 years ago

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TIL in 1963 Popular Science magazine advocate an efficient way to dispose of used motor oil, by using a hole filled with gravel. The oil "will be absorbed into the ground before your next (oil) change".

m1Z5R TIL the creator of the popular e-mail client Eudora named it after author Eudora Welty, for her short story "Why I Live at the P.O." If he had known that Eudora would become as popular as it did, he would not have presumed to name it after a (then) living author (she was pleased and amused)
9Yw77 TIL of Чадоград, a "city" where everything is run by kids. Each visiting kid is given training by "doctors", can learn how to operate a plane, learn journalism, and even driving lessons. Also exists a "bank" among other buildings to prepare kids for the real world.
PZke TIL that Lolita, the killer whale, has been kept in Miami Seaquarium since 1970. The orca is 20 ft long, and her tank measures 60 by 80 ft by 20 ft deep. Her only company for 10 years was Hugo, who died after a brain aneurysm caused by repeatedly banging his head on the tank windows.
epvXk TIL that a brainless slime mold called Physarum polycephalum can solve mazes, optimize transport routes, and even “remember” solutions, despite being just a single cell.
oRKo8 TIL despite the "Florence Nightingale Effect" being named for the English nurse, there are no records of her ever falling in love with a patient. The "syndrome" borrows her name because of her famous compassion and tenderness for her patients