› added 8 years ago

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TIL that 2500 BED (banana equivalent dose) is recognized as the maximum permitted radiation leakage for a nuclear power plant. The equivalent radiation from eating 2500 bananas. Quite literally a banana for scale.

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xpeB TIL: John F. Kennedy’s sister, Rosemary, was lobotomized at the age of 23. Her Father authorized it and didn’t tell the family until after. The truth only came out after John was elected President.
mxojo TIL sugar can be dangerously explosive. In 2008, 14 people died and 40 were injured when sugar dust combusted at Imperial Sugar's refinery in Georgia. A U.S. Chemical Safety Board report found the explosion was entirely preventable. The sugar industry has been aware of explosion risks since 1926.
VVd8 TIL that in 1990 the US Ambassador to Iraq was threatened with execution if he was harbouring Americans he responded with a press conference; where he wore a noose while declaring “If the choice is to allow American citizens to be taken hostage or to be executed, I will bring my own fucking rope"
Wke8L TIL It is estimated there are more than 10^31 bacteriophages on the planet, more than every other organism on Earth, including bacteria, combined.
8evkX TIL Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to be marketed on television, and it broke new ground with ads that specifically targeted the children who used the toy, rather than the parents who paid for it.