› added 13 years ago

136

TIL Groundhogs and Woodchucks are the same animal.

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via reddit.com

awkkM TIL that Vesna Vulović, a former flight attendant, holds the world record for surviving the longest free fall without a parachute (10.1 kilometers). Following the plane crash (of which she was the sole survivor), she was willing to resume working flights, however the airline gave her a desk job.
a8pAN TIL undelivered letters from 313AD were discovered in the ruins of a NW Chinese watchtower—one is from a desperate Sogdian (ancient central Asian people) woman named Miwnay, addressed to her husband who brought her to China & left. She & her daughter, now poor, then became servants in a Chinese home
695P8 TIL Martin-Baker, a manufacturer of airplane ejection systems and seats, has a club for everyone who uses their seats to eject and survives
PYNmG TIL that Gore-Tex was discovered as attempt to reduce cable isolation costs
xD85 TIL an Owl’s eyes are so well developed, they are not eye balls but elongated tubes. It is for this reason they cannot roll or move their eyes and can only look straight ahead (which is why they have adapted an extraordinary range of movement in their neck).