› added 1 year ago

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TIL that on dry, cloudless nights in the desert, water can freeze at temperatures as high as 41 degrees Fahrenheit, 5 Celsius. This is due to a process referred to as or "Night Sky Cooling" or "Radiative Cooling", and allowed desert dwellers to regularly make ice more than 2000 years ago.

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0Nb1 TIL before The Hobbit was published in Nazi Germany, JRR Tolkien was asked whether he was Aryan. He replied “But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.”
oBWkR TIL That announcing you have a firearm in a self defense situation in public is considered "brandishing" and is a serious crime in most states
YpK8A TIL Charles Joseph Minard was French Civil engineer and pioneer of info-graphics. Minard is famous for his flow graphs, one notably showing the trade of French wine. Information designer Edward Tufte said his map of the French invasion of Russia, "may well be the best statistical graphic ever drawn"
6Ejdl TIL the Oxpecker not only eats ticks off of African wildlife (like elephants), it also drinks their blood and makes wounds even larger. Scientists now think the birds are actually parasites and NOT an example of mutualism, where both parties benefit.
e0pen TIL there is a fish poison makes hot things feel icy and cold things feel burning hot.