› added 10 years ago

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TIL Landmines planted on the coasts during the Falklands War accidentally created penguin sanctuaries. The penguins are too light to detonate the mines, so they live and breed safely. The sanctuaries are so popular and profitable that there are efforts to prevent removal of the mines.

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X00EX TIL Roger Bacon who lived from around 1214 to 1292. In his Epistola de Secretis Operibus, he wrote: “Cars can be made so that without animals they will move with unbelievable rapidity,” and “flying machines can be constructed by which artificial wings are made to beat the air like a flying bird.”
p8kYQ TIL former WWE Wrestler Kane is now the mayor of Knoxville, TN
xVkek TIL that Rick Riordan conceived the idea for the Percy Jackson series as bedtime stories about ancient Greek heroes for his son Haley. Haley had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, inspiring Riordan to make the titular protagonist ADHD and dyslexic.
1an44 TIL plastic was invented in 1907. Since 1950, humanity has produced 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste; 9% of it is recycled, 12% is incinerated, 79% ends up in a landfill or in the environment. Majority of the world's plastic waste from the developed world is exported to Southeast Asia.
woMeP TIL that “fire rainbows” are real. They’re called circumhorizontal arcs and happen when sunlight passes through ice crystals in high-altitude cirrus clouds—creating vibrant, horizontal bands of color in the sky. I had no idea these existed until today.