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342

TIL Iceland has Europe's largest banana plantation

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via reddit.com

QJnpL TIL that mosquitos can pause & resume their development lifecycle stages egg -> larva -> pupa -> adult. While each of these stages typically last 5 - 14 days, if conditions are unfavourable (heat, cold etc), they can delay the transition by even a year by going into diapause (dormant stage)
B4VD TIL that in 1913 the first practical thermal solar ‘power plant’ was built in Egypt, it generated power using polished steel to focus the sunlight. Unfortunatly WW1 broke out and the power plant was abandoned due to conflict in the area and oil became a much more attractive energy source.
VBnZp TIL the term "teamster", which is used today to describe truck drivers, was originally used described a person who drove team of oxen or horses, which were the trucks of their day.
ne1Kb TIL FOIA requests reveal that the US Government has had a hand in the production of thousands of hours of entertainment in the last few decades including many feature films such as those in the Marvel franchise. They have insisted on edits to scripts which portray the government in a negative light.
GdQQ TIL that in New York subways, booth attendants would sprinkle chili powder in coin slots to stop people from “coin sucking”