› added 6 years ago

182

TIL that 7 years after the U.S. acquired of what is today Washington state, "Columbia" was originally given the name of the new territory in 1853. However, Congress changed the name to "Washington", arguing that people would easily be confused with the nation's capital, the District of Columbia.

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XRvk TIL there’s a computer virus called the Zipbomb that is 42kb in size but 4.5pb when unpacked, rendering any machine totally useless in the process
b9RZZ TIL that a single spaghetti noodle is called a Spaghetto. In Italian, an “i” at the end is plural, and “o” is singular. This goes for other italian dishes too: panino, raviolo, fettucino, gnocco, etc.
JYnpV TIL bumblebees have parasitic "doppelgangers" called cuckoo bumblebees that resemble a specific race enough to be able to sneak into their nest, kill the queen, and trick all the workers into feeding their offspring and ultimately taking over the whole nest before moving onto their next target.
RAl TIL that the magazine KIDS DISCOVER does not publish a single advertisement in their issues because they don’t believe in marketing to minors
x6Ne0 TIL raw termites taste like pineapple and cooked termites have a delicate, vegetable flavor