› added 11 years ago

269

TIL That America has 19 aircraft carriers. Compared to the rest of the worlds combined 12.

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JJYv TIL that corn nuts are made by soaking whole kernels in water for three days, then deep-frying them in oil until they are hard and brittle. Albert Holloway came up with them in 1936, selling them to taverns who would then give them away free to patrons, as they were particularly tasty with beer.
ZpgoQ TIL that Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela has the highest frequency of lightning storms on Earth, with such storms occurring on almost half of all calendar days each year.
a8GNA TIL that in his classic Western spoof Blazing Saddles (1974), Mel Brooks named his character Gov. LePetomane after that of a 19th century French stage act of he same name. Flatulist Joseph Pujols combined the French verb péter ("to fart") with "mane" (maniac), loosely translating to "thefartmaniac".
YPvd TIL Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Sean Bean, Dominic Monaghan, and Viggo Mortensen all have the Elvish number 9 tattooed on their shoulders to symbolize being members of The Fellowship of the Ring.
OGYKX TIL The US Geologic Survey analyzes twitter data that can often identify earthquakes faster than their own sensors as well as filter out false positives from their sensors.