› added 4 years ago

59

TIL that modern marshmallow contain sugar, gelatin and water, but none of the actual marshmallow plant.

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6ZZW TIL as eclipses can be mathematically calculated, the eclipse of May 28, 585 BC, which stopped a battle in Greece, was said by Isaac Asimov to be the earliest human event known to the exact date and time.
kOY7W TIL sci-fi author Andy Weir chose Kenya as the global capital for the space industry in a book because it's on the equator, which makes it cheaper to launch to low Earth orbit, because it only takes 1/15th the velocity to launch from there.
vPBjr TIL: there was only one civilian casualty during the Battle of Gettysburg. After fleeing to her sisters house from the initial fight, a stray bullet hit Mary Wade while she was baking bread for the retreating Union army
pvJN TIL that the FBI identified the Unabomber – in part – due to him using the phrase “you can’t eat your cake and have it too” instead of “you can’t have your cake and eat it too” in his manifesto.
Z8KMv TIL that the Uncompahgre Ute Native American tribe made special ceremonial rattles filled with quartz that would emit flashes of light when shaken. This was an early example of triboluminescence.