› added 7 years ago

331

TIL There are mushrooms thriving on radiation inside the sarcophagus in Chernobyl.

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KYOMQ TIL that in 1965, Norman Morrison, a Quaker Pacifist dosed himself in kerosene and committed self-immolation in front of the Pentagon to protest the US involvement in the Vietnam War.
p80de TIL that 300 years ago, Robert Boyle wrote down a 'wish list' of inventions he hoped science would one day accomplish. We're over half way there.
mxnWM TIL there are more captive tigers in the US than wild ones in the rest of the world. There are as many as 7,000 tigers living in the US either in zoos or privately owned, according to some estimates. That's nearly double the estimated 3,890 tigers still prowling in the wild around the world.
E1EDx TIL that the town of Honiton U.K, has a "Hot Penny Day", a parade where children collect thrown coins. The tradition was purportedly started by wealthy people, whom would heat pennies on a stove, throw them into the streets, and laugh at the peasants burning their fingers while picking them up.
PX9n TIL That violins have f-shaped holes because it makes them more acoustically powerful than their ancestors, which had holes shaped liked a circle.