› added 7 years ago

149

TIL most of the Founding Fathers were likely Deists and not Christians, but saw organized religion as a useful tool for governing the masses

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xVnO5 TIL Tarchia, meaning "brainy one" was so named for it's large brain. A herbivore, it could chew and swallow large quantities of plants while breathing at the same time.
D1B9g TIL that toothpicks kill nearly as many people every year as sharks do.
VMAmk TIL that tornadoes are more common in United States than in any other country. The US has over 1,200 a year - four times the number in Europe
9waM TIL Sperm whale oil was still a key component in automatic transmission fluid until 1972!
e00pn TIL in 1930, Ellen Church (a licensed pilot herself) persuaded airlines to change their minds about hiring females by challenging them: “Don’t you think that it would be good psychology to have women up in the air? How is a man going to say he is afraid to fly when a woman is working on the plane?”.