› added 12 years ago

102

TIL some birds display ultraviolet feather patterns that are invisible to the naked eye.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

loGx1 TIL that in the late 1860's, the Phylloxera (insect) destroyed almost all of the French vineyards and that Americans saved it by exporting some vines to be grafted, resulting in a pest-resistant vine, saving the French from a catastrophic loss.
XEM8P TIL of Adolf Topperwein, an exhibition shooter who in a 10 day period in 1907, shot 72,500 flying wooden blocks, missing only 9. His longest run without a miss: 14,500.
MMKW TIL - “Gotham City” as New York’s nickname came from Washington Irving’s 1807 description of the city being inhabited by fools (after a town in England).
0d8Gy TIL Garmin had to skip naming the fourth iteration of Fenix, 4, because the phonetic pronunciation combo of both ‘Fenix’ and ‘4’ together in Mandarin is basically translated as “fast rise to quick death.”
5Vo1p TIL a 2015 study found that exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke under extreme, unventilated conditions can cause non-cannabis-using individuals to: feel the effects of the drug, have minor problems with memory & coordination, and test positive for the drug in their blood & urine.