› added 11 years ago

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TIL that Corexit, the chemical dispersant used to “clean” the bp oil spill, is known to have high levels of toxicity in humans, with known links to lung damage, cancer, and other chemical poisoning effects. Corexit is still the go-to chemical for oil spills with no policies banning it in the US.

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VBL54 TIL that not only is the blue whale the largest animal on Earth, it is the largest animal to have ever existed on Earth, growing up to 100ft long and weighing up to 200 tons.
MNP0 TIL The Ovitz family were a family of Dwarfs who survived imprisonment at the Auschwitz concentration camp. They were the largest family of dwarfs ever recorded and were the largest family to enter Auschwitz and to survive intact.
X0wjR Today I learned that during the COVID-19 pandemic, an Italian fashion designer invented a three-piece bathing suit called a "trikini", which was just a regular bikini with a matching face mask.
woKW1 TIL about the "catapult-able cockpit", created by Romanian inventor Anastase Dragomir and successfully tested in 1929 at the Paris-Orly Airport, which featured a parachuted chair that was ejected from an aircraft. It was the first modern layout for an ejection seat, later perfected during WWII.
gQx4 TIL that the price of a bottle of Coca-Cola stayed at a nickel for over 70 years. As a result, vending machines only took nickels, and before raising prices to a dime the president of the company asked President Eisenhower to mint 7.5 cent coins to keep the increase reasonable.