› added 10 years ago

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TIL there is a place called Two Ocean Pass at the continental divide, one stream goes to the Pacific, one to the Atlantic. A fish could make a 6,000 mile freshwater journey from one ocean to another through this creek.

j64Kn TIL that an asteroid traveling at 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) per second collided near South Africa 3.26 billion years ago creating a megatsunami that extended to a depth of thousands of meters beneath the surface of the ocean and rose to the height of a skyscraper when it reached the shorelines.
e78b TIL the deadliest snow storm in recorded history occurred in Iran in 1972. The week-long weather system buried areas in as much as 26ft of snow, killing over 4,000 people, including the entire populations of 3 villages.
a8gRA TIL Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa set a new speed record for summiting all 14 mountains that are 8,000+ meters by completing the feat in 92 days in 2023. The pair also set a record by reaching 26 eight-thousander summits in 1 year and 3 months.
l70va TIL that lightsabers came from the pulp magazines! George Lucas cribbed the concept of "laser swords" from stories in 1930s pulps such as "Magic Carpet," "Weird Tales," and "Amazing Stories."
YpLjB TIL Toyota used to be called Toyoda but in 1936 the company decided for a new name held a competition and got over 27000 entries. Toyota was chosen because the number of strokes to write Toyota in Japanese (eight) was thought to bring luck and prosperity