› added 9 years ago

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TIL Canada is part of the European Space Agency

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ZpWxY TIL for weeks, no one was able to identify what ailed a community of sick chimpanzees in Uganda, even as the animals had began to die. But researchers eventually discovered the body of an adult female & were able to determine that more than 12% of the community had been killed by the common cold.
REbl TIL The facial recognition algorithms in use by facebook outperforms those in use by the FBI
8aOVZ TIL: At Major League Baseball parks, one doesn't see local dirt (sandy in Florida, farmland black in the MidWest, etc) but rather a standardized clay-rich orange "infield mix." Over 20 stadiums use dirt "imported" from Slippery Rock, PA. The official dirt is shipped in and mixed with regional sand.
v1VE7 TIL that people in the 18th century started wearing wigs because many people had hair loss as a result of syphilis. Out of solidarity other people started wearing wigs as well and so it became a trend.
e0bpE TIL that when the first complaints of witchcraft had gone out starting the Salem Witch Trials, a church member had a "witch cake" made. They said it was "a means to discover witchcraft". It was made from rye meal and urine from those that were afflicted and then fed to a dog.