› added 7 years ago

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TIL that Afghanistan has fertile soil perfect for growing pomegranate, but poor access to lucrative markets makes illegal poppy growing the more lucrative option.

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DLaD TIL there was a so called “helpful worm” that would gain access to Windows XP systems, download security patches from Microsoft to close the vulnerability that it used to infect the system, attempt to delete the infamous Blaster worm (if present) from the system, then delete itself.
nwAb TIL a bonobo named Kanzi once asked for “fire” and “marshmallows” using lexigrams while on a hike in the woods. His trainer gave him matches and some marshmallows and he broke twigs, made a fire, and roasted the marshmallows over it.
7ZaM TIL that a USAF fighter pilot used his service pistol to shoot holes in his own fuel tank and drain fuel before landing safely. (Korea, 1958).
566D TIL a 17 foot statue of Vladimir Lenin has been removed from a rooftop in NYC’s East Village, where it stood for 20 years. The statue had been positioned to face Wall Street, the emblem of capitalism.
GKV1 TIL that the Dance Fever of 1518 was a month-long plague of inexplicable dancing in Strasbourg, in which hundreds of people danced for about a month for no apparent reason. Several of them danced themselves to death.