› added 11 years ago

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TIL: The skyscraper in Times Square where the ball drops is completely abandoned, and has been for decades.

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gMPa7 TIL hundreds of love letters between two gay World War II soldiers were found and are being made into a book. In one, one of them wrote, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all our letters could be published in the future in a more enlightened time. Then all the world could see how in love we are.”
N7AZQ TIL, chameleons can snatch their prey with their tongues in as little as .07 of a second, generating a force of 41g.
6EWY7 TIL that "Xmas" is not only not "taking the Christ out of Christmas" but the term Xmas Dates back to the Original writing of the New Testament, which called Christ "Χριστός" which was then used in the context of Christmas around 1100 AD as the term Xmas, with "X" being shorthand for Christ.
J8AV TIL that the fastest 9-year-old today could have won bronze at the 100m sprint at the 1896 olympics.
dBXE TIL: That when inside of a moving car, a helium balloon will move in the same direction that the car is accelerating. It’s being pushed by the air which, itself, is moving counter to acceleration, like most objects do in a vehicle.