› added 1 year ago

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TIL before the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was completely constructed, there were concerns among the public that its high-energy experiments would lead to the formation of micro black holes or strangelets, a dark-matter-like particle that can convert all matter it touches into strange matter.

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6ZDQ TIL that in 1985, Philadelphia police used a helicopter to drop a bomb on a house during a 24 hour conflict involving gunfire with the black activist group MOVE. The explosion caused 50+ homes to burn down resulting in 11 deaths, 5 of which were children.
5YBnk TIL Scottish Musician Les Harvey of the band Stone the Crows was electrocuted in front of a live audience in 1972 when he touched an un-grounded microphone cable and his guitar at the same time.
xVZY7 TIL that in 1979 the Soviets tried to poison the Afghan president but it didn't work because he drank Coca-Cola, which carbonation diluted the poison.
kOy05 TIL about the Shedim. They are creatures very similar to Jinns in Islam. Their name was later translated into "daimonia" by the Greek, which caused the misunderstanding later down the line that they are evil creatures.
1l64 TIL that in France, only croissants made with 100% pure butter can be straight under culinary law. All others have to be shaped differently.