› added 6 years ago

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TIL of "Shifting Baseline Syndrome." This is when significant systemic changes occur over time in a way that makes them extremely difficult for humans to perceive. 'New normals' are established which are experienced as though little to no change has taken place.

ADWVn TIL during his time as a POW, Alexis Casdagli made numerous cross-stitches. One of them was so good that the Germans displayed them in his POW camp for everyone to see, unaware of a secret message stitched into his handiwork. The message, in Morse code, reads "God save the King" and "Fuck Hitler"
polA TIL tech companies often test new products in New Zealand because they’re an ethnically diverse, tech-savvy, and English-speaking nation, yet still relatively isolated. If a product is a flop there, news is unlikely to spread quickly to the rest of the world and damage a company’s reputation.
EmbP TIL Jan Demczur, a window washer working in the World Trade Center on 9/11, became trapped in an elevator in between floors after the first plane hit. Using his sqeegee to pry open the doors, he then broke through the drywall and led the passengers out of the building moments before it collapsed.
mokv TIL Blackcurrant fruit was banned in the United States in 1911 because the plant carries a disease that affects native White Pine trees. Whole forests were wiped out due to the disease. Because of the ban, not lifted until 2003, the flavor is relatively unknown in the US.
px1Z TIL in 1987, North Korea brought down a South Korean jet on its way to Seoul from Baghdad. NK’s agent was posing as a Japanese national, having been taught Japanese language and customs for 3 years by a Japanese woman who was abducted from her home in Northern Japan