› added 4 years ago

350

Today I learned that club moss spores are so hydrophobic, if you pour them onto water, then stick your hand in the glass, it'll come out dry. Also, that it's super flammable. I heard it on a podcast but had to see it myself, and found this:

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via reddit.com

xVDg1 TIL that, since ascending the throne, Queen Elizabeth does not accept any honorary degrees, as this would technically place her under the jurisdiction of the chancellor of whichever university had bestowed the degree, a position deemed unsuitable for a reigning monarch.
nWvXY TIL that in 1889 in the German city of Freiburg the most stinkiest compound ever produced called Thioacetone has been distilled in an experiment in the city causing fainting, vomiting and unconsciousness in a radius or around 1 km from the place of the experiment.
p8j4Q TIL the City of Boston still maintains a fleet of over 3,000 telegraph fire alarm stations all over the region, with an annual budget of roughly $2 million and a dozen workers keeping the system running. The system has been in continuous use since 1852!
KOjmG TIL that there's a family of British military intelligence satellites called Skynet, the first of which was launched in 1969
gWkW TIL computers can’t actually generate random numbers.