› added 9 years ago

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TIL - Most of the smoke billowing up from a space shuttle launch is not exhaust. It is water vapor from the pool of water under the shuttle designed to absorb the acoustic shock waves that could otherwise tear the shuttle apart.

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via reddit.com

b9OLp TIL if for some reason Johnny Depp wasn't available to play Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton's second choice would be The Rock
QND8e TIL that a Canadian senior's living complex saw a petty feud sparked after one elderly man moved in with his young wife. The other residents claimed he violated the age limit, and the couple responded by removing doorknobs, egging cars and exposing an affair between a tenant and one of the owners.
PylL TIL of “Herman the German”, one of four massive cranes built to lift German U-Boats during WW2. It was given to the US as post-war reparation, and still works today in the Panama Canal, after 70+ years of service.
KdY6 TIL deaf infants exposed to sign language from birth acquire these language skills on the same timetable that hearing babies acquire spoken language.
GYwa4 TIL that "The University of Oklahoma football program began in 1895, 12 years before statehood."