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Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass
In 1940, Britain had retreated back to their island fortress after being throttled in mainland Europe by invading Nazis. They would hide behind the sea and hope that their navy and air force could stop the possible German invasion of their island.
As the Battle of Britain raged on, the German and British air forces went head to head. Something strange happened, the Germans pulled of[sic] a series of highly effective night bombing raids. It's strange because night bombing was incredibly ineffective for the most part.
[...] This German bombing was much more effective than what the British could do at night. As a matter of fact, it was more accurate than what typical bombing could do in the day time.
Source: https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/england-was-almost-destroyed-by-radio-waves-df70830e8593
(Score: 3, Informative) by pTamok on Monday April 29 2019, @03:30PM (1 child)
Apples don't contain cyanide.
The apple seeds contain a chemical named amygdalin [wikipedia.org] which, when metabolized, produces cyanide. The amount produced is small enough that normal healthy human liver function can deal with it with absolutely no problems at all: the liver's job, in part, is to convert toxic chemicals into less harmful ones that can be excreted.
Here's Snopes on it: Snopes: Are Apple Seeds Poisonous? [snopes.com]
Apple seeds are well protected and usually to pass through the gut without damage. In order to release the amygdalin, you need to chew on the seeds, which you are unlikely to do much of, as the woody outer layer doesn't taste good.
More details on how many seeds you may need to eat to produce noticeable harm here: Medical News Today: Are apple seeds poisonous? (Cookies pushed) [medicalnewstoday.com]. tl;dr - an adult would need to thoroughly chew and swallow roughly 150 seeds to experience adverse symptoms.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Monday April 29 2019, @06:56PM
Does anybody else remember the GI Joe cartoon where they had to stop a blob that was growing out of control and eating everything in its path? They managed to poison it by shooting it full of apples from a nearby orchard. Apparently, the blob couldn't metabolize the amygdalin (pretty sure they glossed over the details), so it died and everyone was saved.
I think the show was entirely written as a vehicle to use the trivia that apple seeds are poisonous.
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