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TIL that in from the 1880s to the 1900s, pollution caused by horses was so severe, the presence of the (then unheard of) automobile was regarded as a saviour, as it did not pollute the streets with manure, urine and dead horses.

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neOa9 TIL that in 2000 a Nasa plane accidentally flew over Mount Hekla, A.K.A the Gateway to Hell in Iceland, resulting in the first ever directly recorded plume measurements of sulfur dioxide and temperature readings taken from an actively erupting volcano.
xZnB TIL that people employed in the manufacture of fireworks must wear cotton clothing, including undergarments. Synthetic clothing can create sparks capable of detonating fireworks.
a8Gy0 TIL about the grasshopper mouse, a carnivorous rodent that is immune to various venoms released by its prey, such as scorpions.
R5aBl TIL that Tchaikovsky's 1892 'The Nutcracker' ballet was based upon Alexander Dumas' 1844 'The Story of a Nutcracker' ('Histoire d'un casse-noisette' which was in turn based upon the original 1816 short story 'The Nutcracker and the Mouse King' by Prussian author E. T. A. Hoffmann.
awpK9 TIL that Charlie No-Face or the Green Man was an urban legend about a monster who walked along the side of a highway at night in Pennsylvania. In reality, he was a man named Raymond Robinson, and he went out at night so that his face, disfigured in a childhood accident, wouldn't scare people.