› added 4 years ago

119

TIL Stars don't twinkle in outer space. The refraction of light from earth's atmosphere is why we see them twinkle.

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9wKN7 TIL that the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars were violent conflicts in the 1980s involving rival ice cream truck drivers in Glasgow, Scotland. These drivers sold drugs from their trucks and resorted to shootings and arson in turf wars over profitable territories.
gVg4 TIL in 1971, Saddam Hussein imported 95,000 tons of grain treated with fungicidal mercury. The grain was intended for planting, but the Iraqis, unable to understand the English and Spanish warnings or the “skull and crossbones” image, baked it into bread. Hundreds died.
mywx TIL that during WWII JFK was stranded in the solomon islands, and ended up carving a message into a coconut, that a native delivered to the nearest US base and saved his life
kZ1 TIL That even if a drugtest is 99% sensitive and 99% specific despite the apparent accuracy of the test, if an individual tests positive, it is more likely that they do not use the drug than that they do.
lja1 TIL the average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year