Post * Brylk — Curious Curator

› added 5 years ago

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TIL that rainforest canopies have their own soil that is completely distinct from the soil on the ground. This "canopy soil" forms on the tops of branches from the death of mosses and plants, and sustains a high richness of fungal species that regulate nitrogen and nutrients in the forest.

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YpKdP Today I learned that the first hijacking of an airplane was by a South African and three Kiwis during WWII

8a1pa TIL that Jeremiah G. Hamilton was a Wall Street broker noted as "the only Black millionaire in New York" about a decade before the American Civil War. He amassed a fortune of $2 million ($250,000,000 in 2018 dollars) by the time of his death in 1875. He was known as "The Prince of Darkness"

D4EV TIL that the first entirely computer generated movie sequence in cinema history was the Genesis Device demonstration video in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The studio that made the scene would later become Pixar.

WbEd TIL: The Guatemalan Special forces, the Kaibiles, are infamous for forcing recruits to raise a puppy, bonding with it and then killing and eating it. Recruits are also shot and forced to perform field surgery on themselves, and they also have to drink water out of recently fired artillery shells.

ANw54 TIL the naming of Haumea, the first dwarf planet since Pluto, was held up for years due to a dispute over who should be credited with its discovery. Michael Brown first noticed the planet but Jose Luis Ortiz first announced it. Brown accused Ortiz of fraud while Ortiz accused Brown of manipulation.