› added 8 years ago

82

TIL Mistletoe is a parasite infecting hundreds of species of trees and shrubs. Once growing, it steals the nutrients and water of the host, killing the portion of the branch it’s on. Heavy infestation may kill off the entire host plant.

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

vPVg8 TIL Glass can be spun into wool - soft like cotton, safe to the touch, and also bio-soluble (non-toxic in general). The fiberglass wool is usually used as house insulation and is resistant to mold. A 2'x4' batt of recycled fiberglass insulation is roughly equivalent to 15 recycled glass bottles.
grVD9 TIL that the Wayside books were written by the same guy as Holes (Louis Sachar)
pYxWb TIL that In 1816, after the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia, Earth experienced the “Year Without a Summer.” Global temperatures dropped, leading to food shortages, crop failures, and extreme weather events
e07PJ TIL Sun Tzu had to train the king's concubines as soldiers, so he chose 2 as captains & gave an order, but they all just giggled. He ordered the captains' death, to the king's protests. Sun Tzu said he had to complete his mission. The captains were killed & the squads then performed perfectly.
R54P4 TIL in 2010, the executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission ate nothing but potatoes for two months. He lost 21 pounds, his cholesterol went down 67 points, his blood sugar lowered and the blood chemistry—the iron, the calcium, the protein—either stayed the same or got better.