› added 7 months ago

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TIL of "Morphic wing design" - wings that twist to control the plane (as opposed to hinged control surfaces like deflecting ailerons) in a quest to reduce fuel consumption

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EB7 TIL that the planet Uranus actually rotates sideways and “rolls” around the sun rather than “spinning” like the other planets.
v1lkK TIL of Lydia Fairchild a mother from Washington State who's accused of fraud & kidnapping her own children. During application for government assistance, DNA test shows she has no connection to her kids. It turned out she has chimerism, she has 2 sets of DNA, the reason for the maternal test anomaly
wL1jE TIL that in order to argue before the US Supreme Court, you must be accepted by the Supreme Court Bar which has no test—but you do need to be sponsored by two existing members and "be of good moral and professional character," much like a country club
KYEVJ TIL about the Phoebus Cartel, an oligopoly that carved up the early light bulb market for profit and to reduce the operating life of light bulbs from about 2,500 hours to under 1,000 hours to force people to buy more bulbs. It’s an early example of planned obsolescence to drive profits.
ypll TIL the average American thinks a quarter of the country is gay or lesbian, when in reality, the number is approximately 4 percent.