› added 10 years ago

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TIL that a ruby is just a red sapphire. Both are the mineral corundum, a type of aluminum oxide, rubies just have a chromium impurity making them red.

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Wk5Jd TIL The US Government attempted a project in the 60s which involved dropping silver iodide into active hurricanes in hopes of weakening the storms. While it did show promising results for the time, later research into the behavior of cyclones have called the results into question.
wedE TIL There is a Star Wars trading card of C-3PO in which C-3PO appears with an enormous erection. Even today nobody knows how this omission happened.
yQebM TIL that the human body produces hydrogen peroxide. It is broken down into water and oxygen by a naturally produced enzyme called catalase. Catalase production tails off as we age leaving the hydrogen peroxide to gray our hair.
EwEp TIL that Russia trained dolphins how to kill people with harpoons and then sold them to Iran after running out of dolphin food
O1Gg TIL Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, refused to accept an honorary degree from Yale and refused to allow his picture on the cover of Time, out of respect for AA’s principle of anonymity.