› added 8 years ago

114

TIL that Lake Kivu is one of three lakes that undergoes limnic eruptions. These sudden releases of carbon dioxide kill every human and animal around the lake. It is estimated that the lake erupts about once every thousand years. Currently, about two million people live on the shores of Lake Kivu.

RpeQ TIL in the London riots of 2011, the looting and vandalism which took place throughout the city was almost totally avoided by bookshops. One man said his store would probably stay open during the unrest, stating: “If they steal some books, they might actually learn something.”
xVxB0 TIL that Thomas Edison Jr., unlike his famous father, was a terrible inventor. Eventually, he resorted to selling snake oil like the "Edison Magno-Electric Vitalizer", embarrassing his father so much that he was given an allowance of 900 dollars a week to stop marketing his own "inventions".
WkemA TIL Lisa Gelobter invented the Gif. Gelobter laid the early groundwork for the program by developing the animation used to produce GIF images.
9Ym6r TIL James Doohan from Star Trek received a suicide note from a fan. He told her he wanted to see her at his next con. She began to visit him multiple cons before he lost contact with her. 8 years later he got a letter of thanks from her and saying she now had a masters in electrical engineering.
W7pad TIL: When people act like Frankenstein's monster, they often stretch their arms out in front of them because of the 1943 movie Frankenstein Meets the Wolf-Man. In the movie the monster is blinded and has to walk holding his hands in front of him.