› added 7 years ago

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TIL the Queen Termite has the longest life span of any insect in the world, living up to 50 years old

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P10Mn TIL in addition to the Red Cross, the Red Crystal and the Red Crescent, the Geneva Conventions also recognizes the Red Lion and Sun, which was formerly used by Iran before 1980
AD95d TIL of "slow television"—live, nonstop TV coverage of an ordinary event in its complete length. Slow TV was popularized by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's 7-hour broadcast of the train ride from Bergen to Oslo in 2009, and a 134-hour broadcast of the MS Nordnorge's coastal voyage in 2011.
OG60g TIL that there is an island in the Pacific called Yap that uses circular stones as currency. The stones are too large to move so the ownership of the stones is passed by word of mouth to transact business.
D1Zjg TIL of the “Fruit Machine”. In 1961 the Canadian government hired a university professor to develop a machine to identify gay people. It was at the height of the Cold War and homosexuals were thought to be more susceptible to communism.
E1v1w TIL Some metals are so reactive that they explode on contact with water