› added 4 years ago

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TIL of the Beijing Weather Modification Office, used by the government to control the weather on demand. Examples include creating real snowfall for New Years Day and moving clouds away from the Olympic Stadium to prevent rain by firing chemicals into the sky.

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QJe5M TIL that the Grand Kankakee Marsh in Northwest Indiana was one of the largest wetlands in North America at almost 1M acres before it was drained for farmland in the early 1900's. It was also home to one of the densly popluated areas of wildlife.
9AvG TIL that because weather moves West to East, the allies had a major advantage in WW2
woYRY TIL a monk was killed in around 391 AD when he leapt into the arena to stop a gladiator fight, which led to the emperor issuing a ban on gladiator bouts throughout the Empire.
X9PD TIL the reason that so many working-class British men wore a flat cap is that a 16th-century Act of Parliament designed to stimulate wool consumption penalized non-nobles over the age of 6 if they weren’t wearing a woolen cap.
5VBYn TIL of post death erection or "angel lust". A common occurrence in deaths or executions by hanging.