› added 4 years ago

50

TIL that in July 2012 an unusually large and strong release of magnetized plasma from the Sun missed the Earth by around nine days. The strength of the eruption was comparable to the 1859 Carrington event that caused damage to electric equipment (mostly telegraph stations) worldwide.

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LQAOd TIL that Frank Caprio’s dad reprimanded him for refusing to forgive $300 in parking tickets to a single mom on his first day as a judge, inspiring his compassionate approach to justice throughout his career
ADnWd TIL, Febreze, initially marketed as a way to get rid of unpleasant smells, sold poorly until P&G realised that people become accustomed to smells in their own homes, and stop noticing them even when they are overpowering (like the smell of several cats in a single household)
OOa7 TIL a new ant species was discovered in 2012 in Manhattan and is called the ManhattAnt.
R7PjQ TIL that in 1996, an American citizen swam across a Chinese river into North Korea on a drunken dare. He got caught, was held and imprisoned under suspicion of being a spy, but was eventually released back to the U.S. He committed suicide a few weeks later.
Br5wb TIL Escape (The Piña Colada Song) was the final US number one song of the 1970s