› added 2 years ago

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TIL some plants like kiwifruit, wild taro, pineapples have microscopic sharp crystalline needles called raphides.

Read more ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

via reddit.com

ANMNl TIL of the Bouba/Kiki Effect. When people are asked to assign the name "Bouba" or "Kiki" to two amorphous shapes —one round & one spiky— they strongly tend to choose Bouba for the round one, and Kiki for the spiky. This has been robustly confirmed across a majority of cultures & languages worldwide.
nWevW TIL in the 1960s the US government dug a mile-deep hole in the ground and dropped a 40-kiloton atomic bomb in it, to release natural gas. It worked, but the gas was too radioactive to use, and the project was abandoned.
6EknQ TIL that the island council of Mackinac Island in Michigan had to give special permission for the 1980 Christopher Reeve movie 'Somewhere In Time' to bring cars on the island as (other than emergency vehicles) cars are prohibited. The cars brought for the production were limited to filming areas.
awanZ TIL about the Quadro Tracker, a metal antenna hinged to a hollow plastic handle bought by police in the 90s for $400-$8000/unit. The manufacturer claimed the antenna would swivel to point towards a sought object or person. The fraud was exposed in 1996 and the company executives acquitted in 1997.
QJbYE TIL before firing the director of “The Walking Dead”, AMC sent notes to then director Frank Darabont with suggestions on how to lower the budget for season 2. One of these suggestions read: “Couldn't the audience hear the zombies sometimes and not see them, to save on makeup?”