› added 4 years ago

309

TIL that scallops have jet propulsion

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via reddit.com

VA1Q TIL that during the 19th century, spiral staircases were installed in firehouse’s to keep the horses from climbing up into the living quarters. These staircases slowed down response time, which led to a new invention: the fireman’s pole.
jarR TIL 19th century England (and the US, but a bit later) had ‘Ugly Clubs’ where people that had less desirable facial traits met up to drink, sing, and satirize their own looks.
oBxkA TIL that Charles Curtis, the 31st vice-president of the United States, was of Native American ancestry and was enrolled as a member of the Kaw-Nation. English was his third language after Kansa and French
91vQ TIL that glass is transparent because of quantum mechanics, not due to the density of the particles. Basically since there are discrete energy states, if the photon can’t excite the electron up to the next orbital, it just falls back down and shoots the photon out with the same momentum as before.
xVbbB TIL in 1954, Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev could not get funding to pursue a space program, so he planted a fake new-story claiming Russia was going to launch a satellite. The US responded that they were also going to launch one, so the Soviets then agreed to fund the program.