› added 8 months ago

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TIL that butterfly pea flowers, used as ornamental plants and to colour gins like Empress 1908, is scientifically named Clitoria ternatea because it resembles a human vulva.

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5xLP TIL A 13 year old boy was tried as an adult after stealing a phone, because of the size of his penis.
W7XNY TIL there are 20+ kinds of ice
gMdVL TIL that in 1956 the USAF used interceptors armed only with unguided rockets to try and shoot down a runaway target drone. All 208 rockets missed, starting bush fires as well as hitting buildings and cars in a nearby town. In total over 1,000 acres of land was burnt but there were no fatalities.
Eg9wd TIL the 4 or 5 digit code printed on the sticker attached to your produce is universal, so your banana will be labeled with 4011 almost everywhere you buy them. The standards are set by an international coalition of companies.
M7o5V TIL that the Alyeska (Trans-Alaska) Pipeline was built 11 mi (~18 km) "too long" to account for the fact that yearly temperatures in Alaska have a ~150 F (~65 C) range, which causes the pipeline to grow and shrink in length by up to 5 mi (~8 km).