› added 10 years ago

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TIL that sea stars (starfish) are actually top predators feared by everything else in their habitat. Removing them causes widespread effects throughout the ecosystem, just like removing wolves from the forest or lions from the savannah.

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WZML TIL that Tenochtitlan was possibly the highest populated city in the world before its fall, with 5 miles of aqueducts, a ten mile levee, and one of the most complicated class systems in the world at the time. Cortés of Spain leveled the entire city in 75 days.
x6EY5 TIL that the Xbox 360 (2005) and the PS3 (2006) are now older than the SNES (1990) was when they were released, making them retro consoles.
dDY6K TIL that The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly For A White Guy” uses the same sample in the beginning as Def Leppard’s “Rock Of Ages”
P17GV TIL that Parmentier, to encourage the consumption of potatoes which people were wary of, decided to have the field where he grew them guarded by armed men during the day but not at night. Guarding the field increased the value of the crop; at night it was easy to steal tubers, and consumption spread
998p TIL that Thomas Jefferson had a Mockingbird named Dick that he would sing duets with, play violin with while the bird would sing, and even have the bird sing him to sleep on the couch