› added 5 years ago

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TIL that Uzbekistan shuts down the entire country's internet and SMS service for five hours every year to prevent students from cheating during a key college exam.

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via reddit.com

l79dV TIL The small island nation of Nauru has accumulated an outstanding record in international sport through its weightlifting programme and earned Olympic Diplomas for athletes finishing in the top eight at the Games
Ypm1v TIL in spring of 1942 German U-boats terrorized east coast of US sinking fuel tankers and cargo ships with impunity and often within sight of shore and in less than 7 months destroyed 22 percent of the tanker fleet and sank 233 ships killing 5,000 ...more than 2X number who perished at Pearl Harbor.
11MD TIL Rollercoaster loops are never circular, but instead, are designed with an upside down “teardrop” shape. This is because perfectly circular loops will subject riders to up to 6Gs of g-force, causing them to get injured.
bR69 TIL that in the summer of 1987, 22 tons of marijuana was thrown in the sea from a ship chased by the DEA near Brazilian coast. The high quality weed, stashed in closed metal cans, reached Brazilian beaches. The weed was found and smoked in the summer known as “the summer of the can”.
GoY1 TIL Japanese do not call atomic bomb explosions “mushroom clouds”, they call them “pillar of fire” - because that was how they saw and experienced it.