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Wo7N TIL Lance Von Allmen developed an oil containment system that uses chemically treated cellulose to perfectly absorb crude oil in water, and then wring the cellulose to get all of the crude oil back. He died a year after this aired. WHY wasn’t this used to clean up Deepwater Horizon?
mxbgp TIL The first recorded use of the F-word in the modern sense is believed to be a court record from the 1300s referencing a Roger Fuckebythenavele who was apparently believed to be too stupid to copulate properly.
akjZ TIL only 23% of Crimean residents favoured joining Russia when polled in 2013 [PDF]
XjPj TIL that in circus and theater the song “The stars and stripes forever” is nicknamed “the disaster march”. And is traditionally used as a code to signal a life-threatening emergency to which personnel must respond without alarming any audience-members.
grOxb TIL Botanist David Douglas, namesake of the Douglas Fir, died falling into a wild bull pit trap when a wild bull fell in ontop of him.