› added 10 years ago

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TIL many areas are using a beet juice and salt mixture on their roads to keep them from freezing over. The beet juice prevents roads from icing over in temperatures up to -25°C, making it more effective than using a salt brine. A beet juice mixture is also less toxic to the environment.

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jN7ba TIL Huaxi Village is the so-called richest village in China. Founded in 1961 by Wu Renbao, Huaxi touts itself as a model of Chinese communism. The citizens enjoy a high quality of life, most having well over $100,000 in their bank accounts, living in mansions, and driving expensive European cars.
l7MdA TIL China built bootleg versions of many European cities, such as Paris (Tianducheng)
E1Kv0 TIL Scientists trained 17 rats to drive tiny cars; each rat stood on the aluminum floor of the car & gripped copper bars with their paws to complete a circuit to propel the car. By touching left/center/right on the bar, rats could steer to pick up rewards of Froot Loops morsels in the arena.
mxOYY TIL that Julia Child worked in the OSS during WWII. While serving in the OSS she helped develop a shark repellent to keep curious sharks away from underwater explosives. The repellent is still used to this day.
awjoo TIL that links that give no indication of where they'll take you, such as "click here" and nondescript images, have been known as "mystery meat navigation" since 1998. The term makes an analogy to how the producer of mystery meat knows what's in it, but the eater doesn't.