› added 9 years ago

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TIL that the reason many windows are blocked or bricked-up on older buildings in England is because there used to be a tax on windows.

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Lk589 TIL Norway's $1tn Sovereign Wealth Fund owns 1.5% of shares worldwide. They use this clout to push gender-equal pay and reasonable executive salaries while blacklisting 'unethical' companies. They are considering adding high carbon emitters to this blacklist too.
9wVar TIL that the magician Christopher Roller claimed to have godly powers and unsuccessfully tried to patent them and sue David Copperfield for stealing them.
gMRp9 Today I learned about Thorcon, an energy company that is partnering with the Indonesian government to set up Thorium power plants that produce just as much as coal plants and cost less, as well as having no risk of meltdown, all the while being mass-produceable.
VM4pQ TIL that the United States has a law that allows it to attack the International Criminal Court if any of it's officials are detained there.
OGe5L TIL the color of the Chrysochroa fulgidissima, an iridescent beetle, changes depending upon the angle of view. In Japan, politicians are often called out for their ambiguous statements by the media using the expression "tamamushi-iro" in reference to the ever changing color of the bug's appearance.