› added 4 years ago

96

TIL that, before becoming a reknowned chef, Julia Child was a member of the OSS, which was the precursor to today's CIA. She had top secret clearance and led the development of a shark repellent. She wanted to be a field agent, but was precluded from doing so because she was 6' 2" tall.

Read more coffeeordie.com

via reddit.com

yVMNJ TIL wasps help prevent the destruction of $417 billion worth of crops from insect pests every year. This is higher than the annual value of insect pollination at $250 billion per year.
YgQv TIL studies show that when traditional intersections were replaced with modern roundabouts in the USA, there was a 37% reduction in overall collisions, 75% reduction in injury collisions, 90% reduction in fatality collisions, and 40% reduction in pedestrian collisions.
R7A49 TIL "Peter The Great" was succeeded by his wife Catherine because he had his only son tortured to death
E55w TIL after a hijacked Ethiopian Air jet crashed in the ocean, an estimated 60-80 people who survived the initial water-crash ignored the captains pleas to not inflate the life vests inside the plane. They all drowned when rushing water pinned their inflated vests against the fuselage’s ceiling.
NXr9P TIL that in China, there is a problem with "gutter oil", which refers to recycled oil and is often oil that is actually scooped out of sewers and taken to a refinement facility. The oil then ends up sold at a discounted price, often to restaurants, and is visually very similar to new oil.