› added 2 years ago

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TIL the NOAA gives financial awards to shipping lines who reduce vessel speed to protect whales

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via reddit.com

e0DAn TIL The resort town of Aspen, Colorado, became the first city in the US to restrict smoking in restaurants in 1985
a8vab TIL Rockall is an uninhabited islet in the United Kingdom's exclusive economic zone (EEC). In 1997 the British recognized Rockall wasn't an island and gave up all EEC claims it could have made, Rockall is the only case of a state voluntarily downgrading an insular feature to "a rock".
dD0r7 TIL that the curveball was invented by a baseball player named Candy Cummings. He was also the first player ever to pitch two complete games in one day and later invented a device to safely couple railroad cars together.
KO4BQ TIL 'Nothing But Gingerbread Left' is a story about a song, designed to damage the Nazi war effort. It was so catchy that anybody who heard it could think of nothing else. It impacted German morale. The story ends with Hitler unable to deliver a speech because of the song in his head.
R5414 Til of the Peshtigo fire, the deadliest wildfire in world history that took place in Peshtigo, Wisconsin in 1871. It occurred the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, and has been largely forgotten, though it killed 5 times as many as the Great Chicago Fire.