› added 11 years ago

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TIL Since 1990 more people have been killed by sandcastles than sharks in the USA

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via reddit.com

A4VB TIL that there is a rare type of lava called Natrocarbonatite, erupted at only one volcano in the world. It erupts at such a low temperature that it only glows at night. It looks black when fresh, but later turns white.
1bBV TIL that before 1600, a game of chess could be won by capturing all of the opponent’s pieces, leaving a bare king; a style of play known as “annihilation”. In Medieval times, players considered it nobler to win by checkmate, so annihilation became a half win for a while, until it was abandoned.
GR4j TIL in 2005 PBS gave pictures of ‘Tank Man’ to students at Beijing University - where the Tiananmen Square activism started - and they were mystified. One said, “I don’t know; maybe it’s a parade or something,” and another said politely, “May I ask if this is a piece of your artwork?”
VMWVQ TIL around 15% of active Twitter accounts are social bots. This means there are nearly 48 million accounts that are not controlled by humans.
j6Kka TIL that the youngest brother of the 90s band Hanson is now an ordained Deacon of the Eastern Orthodox Church and goes by the name Deacon Mercurios.