› added 12 years ago

84

TIL that the extinct american cheetah could be the reason pronghorns run so fast today

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

QJpbp TIL that "Tom's Diner" was the first song ever converted to MP3. "This song was chosen because of its nearly monophonic nature and wide spectral content, making it easier to hear imperfections in the compression format during playbacks. Some refer to Suzanne Vega as "The mother of MP3""
x65w0 TIL that the original run of The Jetsons lasted just one season (1962-1963) spanning 24 episodes.
D1rEV TIL that Southern live oak was a secret weapon of the USS Constitution, one of America's first naval vessels, that was nicknamed "Old Ironsides" after so many cannonballs bounced off her hull because live oak wood is a super dense wood.
v6xj TIL that Dubai has been built by slaves – foreign workers who are lured in on the promise of well-paying jobs, then are stripped of their passports and forced to work for miniscule wages under miserable conditions
X05QE TIL that Galileo wasn’t vindicated by the Church until 1992