› added 10 years ago

107

TIL that Polar Bears are practically invisible on thermal cameras.

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QJjxM TIL The 'Hubble Deep Field image' covers an area of the sky equal to holding a tennis ball at 100 metres away, and contains over 10,000 galaxies, each one with around 100 billions stars in it.
0w0Pp TIL of the St. Francis Dam disaster of 1928. Located in Angeles National Forest, the reservoir held 12 billion gallons of water. The dam failed before midnight on March 12th. A 140 ft flood wave swept debris and bodies 54 miles to the pacific ocean. Second worst loss of life in California history.
lgL5 TIL that Microsoft was accused of an anti-semitic conspiracy because in the Wingdings font, typing in “NYC” results in “☠✡?”.
4Z0o TIL the company that created the successful series of 80’s/90’s educational PC games such as Reader Rabbit and Treasure Mountain was bought by Mattel in 1999 at a $4.2 billion evaluation. In 2000, it was sold at a loss of up to $3.6 billion, cited as one of the worst acquisitions of all time.
yVZ6p TIL the Lincoln Highway (1910s) made driving across America easier. However, muddy or flooded roads were expected and drivers needed camping gear. The road guide included tips for each town. E.g. Fish Springs, Utah travelers could "build a sagebrush fire" for a local team to find/rescue them.