› added 8 years ago

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TIL of Chlorine-trifluoride, a substance so unstable it sets seemingly inflammable objects like concrete on fire. In the 1950’s, some was accidentally spilled in a warehouse and burned through a foot of concrete while simultaneously releasing a deadly cloud of gas that corroded anything it touched.

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mx1JY About a third of our planet’s food goes to waste. That’s enough food to feed the nearly 800 million people going hungry and then some.
R50Da TIL Celine Dion met her future husband when she was 12 and he was 38, when he became her manager.
x6yV7 TIL that a rocket engine startup company's plan for using mercury propellant to launch satellites ended up getting the UN global ban
xVmA7 TIL that sections of the shiny stainless steel exterior of the Frank Gehry designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles had to be de-polished because in bright sun they were cooking neighboring buildings and blinding drivers.
X0JME TIL that Clyde Barrow (of Bonne & Clyde) personally wrote a letter to Henry Ford telling him what a great getaway car the V8 was.