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TIL the US government utilized weather warfare during Vietnam

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4MO5 TIL - Europeans didn’t know Marco Polo’s “Cathay” was really China or that the city “Cambulac” was really Beijing, until 1598 when Jesuit priests in Beijing talked to Arab merchants there, who still called it Cambulac. Maps until the 17th century showed China and Cathay as 2 different empires.
Jbgj TIL There is a plant that mimics the anus of a dead animal, in order to attract flies for pollination.
DQ4LV TIL a New Mexico judge came up with the electronic ankle monitor from reading a Spider-Man newspaper comic strip in 1977
v1XED TIL that killer whales, or orca whales have a highly developed ‘limbic system’, which suggests that they feel a stronger level of empathy and social cohesion towards their peers than any other mammal, including human beings and other cetaceans.
6D5w TIL people have been found dead casually sitting next to open electrical equipment - they got a fatal shock to the heart but sat down because they only felt a little lightheaded