› added 7 years ago

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TIL the US navy's new class of aircraft carrier USS Gerald R.Ford can accomplish 25% more aircraft launches per day than the Nimitz class and requires 25% fewer crew members. The Navy estimates it will save $4 billion in operating costs over a 50-year lifespan.

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5Vorn TIL: William Bailey was a Harvard dropout turned salesman who promoted using radioactive radium as a cure-all. He claimed it can cure mental illness, diabetes, flus, etc. He became wealthy. He died of cancer and when his body was exhumed, it was found to be "ravaged by radiation".
d9Pj TIL of William James Sidis, a child prodigy thought to have been the smartest man who ever lived, who escaped the limelight and worked blue collar jobs, secretly writing thousands of manuscripts that have never been read.
b6Ww9 TIL about the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese workers from the U.S. for more than 60 years from 1882 until 1943
PYaNV TIL about Slugging, a practice where commuters driving into big cities will pick up fellow random commuters in order to take advantage of faster carpool lanes. No money is exchanged, and as many as 9,000 people in some US cities will Slug in a given day.
OXJ4 TIL Stephen Colbert’s father and two older brothers died in a plane crash because the cockpit crew became distracted from talking while landing the plane. A few years later, the FAA created the ‘Sterile Cockpit Rule,’ prohibiting staff from engaging in non-essential conversation once below 10,000 ft