› added 8 years ago

562

TIL that Canada sent 50 beavers to Argentina in 1946, but now number over 100,000 and are destorying Argentina's forests.

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via reddit.com

rNkk0 TIL the hanging boxes on power lines are called Stockbridge dampers and mitigate specific vertical movement (called Aeolian vibration) in the cables that would otherwise result in stress fatigue and potential separation. This is the same vibration that destroyed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940.
VO7B TIL that oxford dictionary inserted a fictitious word “Esquivalience” in order to protect copyright of the publication. The fake entry was included in dictionary.com.
oRo8A TIL about Bishnu Shrestha, a Nepalese-Ghurka soldier who went up against 30+ train robbers after they tried SAing an 18yo near him. He refused money offered by her family, saying "Fighting the enemy in battle is my duty as a soldier. Taking on the thugs on the train was my duty as a human being".
JYdwk TIL In 1803, the Igbo people (ethnic group from Nigeria) managed to take control of their slave ship. They committed mass suicide instead of submitting to slavery in the United States.
mxY1p TIL Australia once had a tumbleweed so large they named it "hairy panic"