› added 8 years ago

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TIL one reason that you so often see people holding fans in ancient Japanese paintings/art is because the fan was a common self defense weapon. It had a metal rod inside, and there is an entire martial art dedicated to fighting with the fan.

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PY9MZ TIL that Bob Widlar (uA702 creator) installed "The Hassler" outside his office. Whenever people started talking, the device would detect the audio, convert it to high freq, and playback the converted sound. Visitors would notice this ringing, stop talking, and the sound disappeared. Lesson learned.
gMvry TIL the Guillemot is a penguin-like bird that has retained its ability to fly. They can dive up to 180 meters.
WJV9 TIL Many investigators believed that some if not all the crew of The Challenger disaster survived the explosion unharmed and were conscious for the full 2 minutes 45 seconds it took for the Crew Cabin to return to Earth, before being killed by collision force when the module hit the sea.
VeYm TIL that venting your anger online only makes you angrier, a study found.
dDR47 TIL The tiny island nation of Tuvalu consists of nine islands. Interestingly, "Tuvalu" means "eight standing together" in Tuvaluan. This is due to the fact that only eight of the islands were populated before the Europeans "discovered" the archipelago.