› added 12 years ago

80

TIL an Irish monk during the black plaque thought he was on of the last men left alive and kept a journal

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9J1B TIL that during the Iraq war in 2003, the U.S. Military planned to attach chickens atop Hum-Vees in order to detect chemical weapons. The project was named, Operation Kuwaiti Field Chicken (KFC). However, the project failed when 41 of the 43 chickens died within a week of their arrival.
v1N1r TIL when creeping dogwood flowers open, their stamens snap upwards at 24,000 m/s^2 (nearly 54,000 mph), which flings the pollen at an acceleration of up to 3,000 G's - one of the fastest plant actions on Earth.
9YPnB TIL Australian school authorities once accidentally gave a standardized history exam asking students to analyze a painting of the Bolshevik Revolution with a giant robot in the background. When apologizing, they promised "new guidelines governing the use of internet-sourced material in exams."
xPy0 TIL African Americans have high rates of European, Native American and Chinese ancestry. For example, scientific analysis indicates that African Americans inherit about 14–17.7% of their ancestry from Europeans.
1xZW TIL in 1915, The New York Times invited unborn public officials to attend the opening of the Louis H. Eisenlohr box, 100 years from then. Which will be on the second saturday of 2015.