› added 11 years ago

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TIL engineers that worked on the Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” aircraft couldn’t come up with a proper fuel sealing system that could handle the thermal expansion of the airframe at extreme temperatures, so the aircraft would leak jet fuel on the runway.

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WeB8 TIL an internet service provider in the UK is compliant with xkcd comic #806, meaning they will transfer your call to a higher-level rep if you say “shibboleet.”
vMLK TIL That although liquid water is not a mineral, it becomes one when it freezes since ice is a naturally occurring, inorganic solid with a definite chemical composition and an ordered internal structure.
Lwlp TIL Until 1616 coffee was essentially a monopoly run by Yemen. Merchants were forbidden to sell live coffee plants or seeds. That changed when Pieter van der Broecke, a Dutch merchant, stole coffee seeds and brought them back to Holland. 40 years later coffee had traveled as far as Sri Lanka.
0kov TIL that a billboard can create 100 liters of water a day out of thin air!
wMvW TIL that there is a super exclusive secret private club in Disneyland, California which is the only place inside the park that serves alcohol (during normal park operating hrs)! And it has 10+ years of waiting list for membership