› added 5 days ago

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TIL of Fordlândia, Henry Ford's failed rubber utopia in the Amazon jungle. In the 1920s, the colony was home to hundreds of workers living a mandatory alcohol-free "healthy lifestyle," including square-dances, poetry readings, and golf, but ended up totally abandoned after riots and crop failure.

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via reddit.com

JYZM4 TIL about a swimming pool which was built in middle of Mojave desert, as an art installation, the location to which was not released to public. Users had to get the keys to the pool from MAK center in West Hollywood, who would provide the GPS coordinates to the pool.
d8k0E TIL that it's possible that Orcas' senses are so developed that they can tell a woman is pregnant before she can.
JwY4 TIL there is a species of flatworm that after sex, if the female has been filled with unwanted sperm from an undesirable partner, it can double over, put its mouth over its genital opening, and suck the sperm back out. This gives the female control over who fertilises her eggs.
8aE68 TIL: Today’s average teenagers know vastly more about the Milky Way and other galaxies than professional astronomers of 100 years ago.
a8g60 TIL Oscar De Priest was the only african-american congressman during this three terms in congress from Illinois 1929 to 1935. He was the first black congressman from outside the south, and the first to be elected to congress in the 20th century.