› added 11 years ago

106

TIL in 1996, Canadian PM Jean Cretien was confronted at a rally. With no bodyguards present, Cretien choked out his assailant with his bare hands. This takedown has since been named ‘The Shawinigan Handshake’, after Cretien’s hometown.

Read more ideatoappster.com

via reddit.com

69GwZ TIL a cashew nut grows as a fruit and the “nut” is actually a seed. The seed’s skin requires processing because it contains urushiol, a resin that causes skin irritation similar to poison ivy.
6pG7 TIL that in the 60s the US struck a deal with the UK to buy an unpopulated Indian ocean island for a military base. The UK didn’t have an unpopulated island, so it forcibly expelled the inhabitants of the British Indian Ocean Territory until it WAS uninhabited.
4X0N TIL that Marineland in Canada kept a killer whale in a tiny indoor tank for 5 years without sunlight
VWNQ TIL Children are 5 times more likely to drown in a swimming pool than to be killed by a gun
OokVX TIL: Henry Dreyfuss designed some of the most iconic devices found in American homes and offices throughout the twentieth century, including the Western Electric Model 500 telephone, the Westclox Big Ben alarm clock, and the Honeywell round thermostat. Plus, the streamlined locomotive.