› added 11 years ago

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TIL: Adding lanes to highways doesn’t reduce traffic, it increases it…a phenomenon called induced demand

Read more wired.com

via reddit.com

EgG97 TIL that in 1904, Hartford, CT librarian Caroline Hewins established one of the first children's book rooms in a U.S. library. She spent decades encouraging parents to read to their children and helping make books more accessible to all.
R7bNj TIL in 2010 British goat milk farmer reportedly discovered his goats made more milk when Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You" was played on loop
w05J TIL that Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s official title was “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.”
LkXeQ TIL that there are species of mushrooms that feed off of gamma radiation, and some are blooming in Chernobyl, “eating” the radiation.
WrXo TIL of the Vermont Republic, a country in present-day Vermont that was sovereign for 14 years from 1777 to 1791, longer than the Republic of Texas. As a country, adult slavery was abolished within its boundaries.