› added 5 years ago

458

TIL The Blue Hole is a 120-metre-deep sinkhole, five miles north of Dahab, Egypt. Its nickname is the “divers’ cemetery”. Divers in Dahab say 200 died in recent years. Many of those who died were attempting to swim under the arch. This challenge is to scuba divers what Kilimanjaro is to hikers.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

kBQW TIL L. Ron Hubbard claimed to be a nuclear physicist, even though his only exposure to the field was one college course, which he flunked
6EVdJ TIL that the Japanese emperor Hirohito, who ruled during World War 2, was a passionate marine biologist and had published many papers on the topic and even discovered several new species of Hydrozoa
ajMZ TIL that a company in England accidentally sent letters to some of its wealthy customers that began “Dear Rich Bastard”. One customer who did not receive the letter complained, certain their wealth was enough to warrant the “rich bastard” title.
1b6d TIL that the U.S. has 3.1% of the world’s children, but consumes 40% of the world’s toys.
LbKP TIL of a homeless man in NYC who would regularly order an expensive dinner at a restaurant and refuse to pay for it in order to be sent to prison where he would receive 3 meals a day and a clean bed. He refused to commit more serious crimes to get longer sentences as he did not want to hurt anyone.