› added 8 years ago

157

TIL of Kremlinology. During the Cold War, so little information was available about the USSR’s government that Kremlinologists studied the order Soviet leaders appeared (or didn’t appear) during parades, and the timing and spacing between them, to see who was powerful and who had lost influence.

Read more nytimes.com

via ift.tt

rRkL1 TIL that grasshoppers are the same insect as locusts. When forced into overcrowded areas with little food, they transform, becoming stronger, more aggressive, and swarm to eat anything in sight
QbWp TIL in the early 90s Ozzy Osbourne announced his retirement tour. It was called “No More Tours”, a pun on his No More Tears album, however in 1995 he returned to touring, dubbing his concert performances “The Retirement Sucks Tour”.
78LAL TIL that the Mona Lisa became famous because of a heist by an employee at the Louvre
Lb5P TIL that in 2007 two teams of armed intruders stormed their way into a nuclear plant used to store weapons grade uranium from South Africa’s decommissioned arsenal. The coordinated assault was thwarted by an off-duty firefighter, a plant employee, and their dog.
p86RA In Delhi, air quality index (AQI) levels are usually a severe 200 on a good day (anything above 25 is deemed unsafe by World Health Organization). During peak pollution periods last year they soared well into a life-threatening 900 and sometimes off the measurable scale. But as Delhi’s 11m registered cars were taken off the roads and factories and construction were ground to a halt, AQI levels have regularly fallen below 20. The skies are suddenly a rare, piercing blue. Even the birdsong seems louder.