› added 9 years ago

92

TIL of Insular Dwarfism, the tendency for small species to become larger and large species to become smaller upon being moved to an island.

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mQ9R TIL that the word “Afghanistanism”, which means the practice of concentrating on problems in distant parts of the world while ignoring controversial local issues, is almost 70 years old
KOgRa TIL the 'ye' in 'ye olde' is pronounced 'the'. In old English, they had a letter for the 'th' sound, þ, which in handwriting looked a lot like the letter 'y' and were often used interchangeably.
nQPr TIL of a horse named Jim who was used to make diptheria anti-toxin. One day Jim got tetanus and by the time anyone noticed 12 children who received his serum had died, leading to the creation of the 1902 Biologics Control Act.
X011k TIL that the longest-lasting tropical storm on record lasted 31 days. Despite traveling over 7,000 miles during its existence, it barely affected any land at all.
rR4RM TIL in 2009, A man was unable to cash a check at a Bank of America branch in Tampa, Florida, because he could not provide a thumbprint. The man has two prosthetic arms. The bank later issued an apology