› added 8 years ago

213

TIL the 9/11 tragedy released a cloud of asbestos fibers over NYC. 400 tons of asbestos was in the WTC building. An estimated 410,000 people were exposed to the toxic substance. Nearly 70% of rescuers have lung problems. Experts expect cancer diagnoses to peak in 2041-four decades after the attack.

Read more asbestos.com

via ift.tt

y7Mp TIL: When General Lee met with his adversary, Grant, to surrender at Appomattox CH. Lee insisted upon his soldiers rights to keep their horses if they had one. Grant agreed understanding that if a former soldier was to return to the farm he had left, he’d need a horse to put the next crop in with.
xVNkD TIL It took over 200,000 years of human history for the world's population to reach 1 billion, and only 200 years more to reach 7 billion
5EyR TIL that the Utah state bird is actually the California Gull because in 1848 the gulls flew in flocks from California to the Salt Lake Valley and consumed tens of thousands of “Mormon Crickets” that were devouring the crops, saving the harvest. It’s called ‘The miracle of the gulls’.
Q58d TIL that 18th century Prussian king Frederick William I was obsessed with having soldiers over 6 foot tall. He paid families for tall children, kidnapped tall men, bred them by pairing up his soldiers with tall women, and even stretched them on a rack to make them taller.
80JK TIL that in Canada, there are currently NO shelters for male victims of violence or sexual abuse and that Earl Silverman, the previous owner and manager of the country’s only male shelter, committed suicide when he was forced to sell his house and shelter due to lack of funding.