› added 11 months ago

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TIL that during World War II, was the Yellow River Break; When China destroyed their own dams & levees in a tragic attempt to create defensive water blockades. The intentional effort to thwart enemy advances led to the drowning deaths (and loss otherwise) of 400,000-500,000 Chinese civilian lives:

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69NKQ TIL that over three quarters of the grapefruit produced in Texas is from Atomic Gardening, a form of mutation breeding where plants are exposed to radiation.
0wbV1 TIL that Ichneumon wasps lay their eggs inside trees where they detect formerly laid and evolved wood wasp larvae. They paralize the other larvae through poison and then lay their single egg on top of it. Scientists are not sure how they find their victims through centimenters of solid tree bark
e0rEE TIL that the 1952 presidential election was the first American political race that employed 30-second TV ads, and the Eisenhower campaign’s embrace of this technology vs Stevenson’s traditional campaign style was a major factor in Eisenhower’s landslide victory.
GmnN TIL that although he was 6’ 5" and 315 lbs, Michael Clarke Duncan’s mother would not let him play football in high school, afraid that he would get hurt. So instead, Duncan pursued his interest in acting.
60P8 TIL that instead of allowing women to sing in their choir like the Protestants, the Catholic church decided to begin the tradition of castrating young boys so their choral music was ‘on-par’ with Protestant choral music.