› added 12 years ago

115

TIL: “Kiwi” is actually a branded name for the fruit when it was first introduced to the US. It’s actual name is “Chinese Gooseberry”

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

7rMDX TIL that the London Underground is so hot because the clay through which the tunnels are dug has spend decades heating up and is now insulating the tunnels. It was originally thought that the tube would remain cooler than the streets above.
P1WrG TIL in the 50s Disneyland offered fishing on Tom Sawyer Island in an area called Catfish Cove. Guests could borrow a pole and a can of worms to try and catch fish. They offered to clean, ice and store them until close at a restaurant. It was promptly ended after fish were discarded all over the park
dyYB TIL that about 12 percent of spices brought to the United States are contaminated with insect parts, whole insects, rodent hairs and other things.
X0QZD TIL Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was an Indian-American astrophysicist who discovered the Chandrasekhar limit—the maximum mass (about 1.4 solar masses) a white dwarf star can have before collapsing into a neutron star or black hole. He won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Dwe TIL Simon, a ship’s cat in WW2, the only cat to be awarded the Dickin Cross, was also given 3 other medals and the rank of Able Seacat