› added 8 years ago

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TIL a Chinese company, Ninebot Inc., made a knock off of the Segway. When Segway tried to sue them, Ninebot used the money they made from selling the knock offs to buy the company that originally made the Segway.

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P1pjL TIL that after large animals went extinct, such as the mammoth, avocados had no method of seed dispersal, which would have lead to their extinction without early human farmers.
16RdD TIL They are making beer from dirty bathwater
GBoJ TIL that Belarus is the last country in Europe that still uses the death penalty. The convicts are shot in the back of the head with a silenced PB-9 pistol. The whole procedure, starting with the announcement about denied appeals and ending with the gunshot, lasts no longer than two minutes.
RGe4 TIL that, uniquely, the Norwegian special territory of Svalbard is an entirely visa-free zone. No person is required visa or residence permit, and anyone may live and work in Svalbard indefinitely, regardless of citizenship.
AD85g TIL of a natural phenomenon called radiative cooling which the ancient Persians exploited to create ice, even when temperatures were above freezing