› added 10 years ago

98

TIL the small country of the Netherlands is the 2nd largest exporter of agricultural goods behind the USA, with exports earning $79 billion in 2013. They export two thirds of the world’s fresh-cut plants, flowers, and flower bulbs.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

8eQvb TIL that Ludvig Nobel, brother of Alfred Nobel (founder of the Nobel Prize) was a major oil developer in Baku, Azerbaijan. He created the first oil tanker ship, overcoming obstacles like avoiding fires on board, proper venting, heat expansion and balancing the ship. He refused to patent this.
rRJY4 TIL about Dr. Leonoid Rogozov, a physician who took part in an antarctic expedition in 1961, developed appendicitis and successfully performed a self-appendectomy with the help of a driver and meteorologist at their Antarctic research station.
dxeB TIL Henry Ford built a rubber factory and town in the Amazon in the 20’s to supply rubber for tires. Ultimately, he failed and abandoned the idea. The ruins remain there today.
k9Dd TIL That Ben Franklin’s quote “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety,” was actually about the legislature’s right to tax the citizenry to pay for, among other things, security measures.
XEdgk TIL that in 1984 a group of paleontologists discovered a 50,000-Year-Old Bison frozen in the permafrost in Alaska and consumed part of its neck meat. They described it as tasting like mud but smelling like beef and mushrooms.