› added 7 years ago

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TIL about Golden Rice, genetically modified rice that has an increased nutritional value in an attempt to fight malnutrition in poverty stricken places.

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8anyb TIL: Early fire departments were private companies and would only respond to fires at their customer's buildings. Plaques were placed on the building so people would know which department should respond.
yQLKM TIL of N-rays, a new form of radiation described by French physicist Prosper-René Blondlot in 1903, sparking the publication of hundreds of scientific articles. Failing to detect them himself, physicist Robert Wood later found them to be illusionary after sabotaging a experiment by Blondlot himself.
EZd7 TIL Robert E. Lee not only considered slavery a moral & political evil, but his wife and daughter set up an illegal school for slaves at their Arlington plantation.
R5MQQ TIL of John Coffey a fireman, who deserted the Titanic at his hometown of Queenstown Ireland, the last stop before it headed across the Atlantic to New York.
rRXOx TIL that in 1980, an Appalachian Trail shelter was stolen, presumably for its prized chestnut logs. It was never recovered.