› added 1 week ago

4

TIL Lew Ayres, who played Paul Bäumer in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), was a WWII conscientious objector which Erich Maria Remarque, the novel's author, disapproved of. He stated: “I am very sorry. I didn’t expect it to have an effect like this. I think we all should fight Hitlerism."

Read more muse.jhu.edu

via reddit.com

JeQV TIL in 1950, a disease called Myxomatosis was introduced to rabbits for population control in Australia. It wiped out 500,000,000 rabbits, giving them skin tumors and causing blindness, often killing them within 2 weeks.
GY7mE TIL of Cannibal Island - a small island in Siberia where the Soviet Union forcibly deported 6,000 citizens. They were abandoned with few supplies and only flour for food. Disease and cannibalism quickly ran rampant and after 13 weeks, 2/3 of the original deportees were dead.
OGVra TIL about Leucochloridium or “Zombie Snail”, a parasite that infects a snail's eye stalks, making them grow bigger & pulsate. This attracts birds that eat the snail, transmitting the parasite to the bird's digestive system, where it reproduces & infects more snails.
LkYGV TIL X-Men is/was a metaphor for the civil rights movement. Specifically, Xavier as MLK and Magneto as Malcolm X.
EgKMw TIL that persistent, long term cannabis use can lead to CHS, one of the symptoms of which is "scromiting."