› added 6 years ago

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TIL that in certain species of bamboo, every 60-120 years, all plants bloom at the same time across the world, regardless of their location or surrounding environmental conditions. The method by which this is coordinated is unknown.

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j6eDM TIL about cross sea waves - square waves, also known as square seas. They are formed when the winds of two weather systems - one old and one new - meet. The result looks like a quilt-like pattern of squares on the surface of the sea. Cross seas usually occur along coastal areas and are rare.
a8A8J TIL the pilot episode of LOST was the most expensive pilot episode in TV history at the time. The network president who greenlit the pilot was fired for greenlighting such an expensive episode
oRZYr TIL in 2018, footwear retailer Payless set up a fake luxury store. Their aim was to see if people would be willing to pay luxury prices for their discount footwear. It succeeded, with shoppers agreeing to pay upto about $600 for footwear that would typically cost between $19.99 and $39.99.
p89J4 TIL that the word quarantine comes from an Italian variant of ‘quaranta giorni’, meaning forty days, which was the period that all ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore during the Black Death plague epidemic. They would fly this flag known as “Yellow Jack”.
epwwE TIL that OMEGA, Olympic Games official timekeepers and scorers since 1932, had asked organizers before the 1976 Games whether the scoreboards needed to accommodate four digits. They were told it was not necessary. As a result, when Nadia Comaneci performed a perfect routine, the timer showed 1.00.