› added 12 years ago

157

TIL that Alberta, Canada is the only inhabited region on Earth that is free of Norwegian rats.

Read more www1.agric.gov.ab.ca

via reddit.com

R5La1 TIL the "Pauli effect" is the supposed tendency of technical equipment to mysteriously break in the presence of certain people. The effect is named after Austrian theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli, whose presence was associated with spontaneous mechanical failure throughout his career.
6EgeX TIL that George RR Martin is a big fan of football, but not of Coach Belichick and the Patriots. In "A Dance with Dragons", he even references the 2007 Superbowl where the Patriots fell after a perfect season to the Giants, naming a character "Belichio" who gets eaten by giants.
lgjG TIL coordinated power shut off events like Earth Hour, Live Earth, and Planet Aid may actually increase carbon dioxide consumption as power companies struggle to cope with fluctuating electricity usage
awkro TIL In order to cross to Greece by land Persian King Xerxes had to build a bridge over Hellespont strait. After a storm came and destroyed the bridge, Xerxes was so upset that he sent his soldiers down to the banks to whip the sea 300 times for its failure to obey him and comply with his plans.
g9Y7 TIL that in 1971, Saddam Hussein imported 100,000 tons of grain treated with fungicidal mercury. The grain was intended for planting, but the Iraqis, unable to understand the English and Spanish warnings or the “skull and crossbones” image, baked it into bread. Hundreds died.