› added 2 years ago

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TIL in the 1800s the USDA gave farmers an herbicide to combat ragwort, a weed toxic to horses and cows. They'd spray sodium chlorate but get some on their pants. The dried sodium chlorate was high highly flammable leading to an epidemic of EXPLODING PANTS.

Read more 1964.co.nz

via reddit.com

OxGa TIL the Richter scale is an exponential scale which uses powers of 10. Meaning an earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale 1,000 times stronger than one measuring 6.
epwdJ TIL: Some car commercials are done with CGI. This is done because these commercials are often shot before the cars have actually been manufactured. Also it’s much harder to move these cars to the shooting locations. They use a car called the Mill Blackbird for the CGI.
lovb1 TIL In 1896 two norwegians crossed the Atlantic in 55 days in a rowboat. A record that lasted 114 years.
GPDj TIL that 75% of the US’s oil comes from North and South America, not the Middle East.
oBQYL TIL that heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and sportscaster Howard Cosell’s relationship extended well beyond great interviews. Cosell was among the first to call him by his adopted name, and vehemently supported Ali’s refusal to serve via the draft.