› added 7 months ago

50

Til about snowing a bridge, the old practice of adding snow to bridges to make a smooth surface for sleighs

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R7gy9 TIL In 1950, myxoma virus (a type of pox virus) was deliberately released into the rabbit population in Australia as a means of population control, causing the death of over 500 million rabbits
mxvXv TIL that despite taking in more than $500 million in donations, the American Red Cross only built six houses in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew
gk5L TIL that no study has shown the food additive MSG to be dangerous and the entire public outcry against it in the 1970s was because of one letter sent to the New England Journal of Medicine
8j9L TIL wasabi vapour has an effect similar to smelling salts, a property which has been exploited to create smoke alarms for the deaf.
4Xn8o TIL Mt. Everest was involuntarily named after George Everest, the surveyor-general of India. Andrew Waugh hoped to honor his predessor. When Everest found out, he hated the idea because the Sherpa people couldn't pronounce his name, and it didn't translate to Hindi. Waugh did it anyway.