› added 6 years ago

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TIL the largest electric vehicle on Earth, a monster dump truck, never has to recharge because it moves uphill empty but downhill full, and regenerative braking with a full load provides enough electricity for it to go uphill again.

KOMDB TIL after his friend's eyes froze over from removing fogged goggles during a test flight, John Macready began working with Bausch & Lomb to create goggles better suited for flights into the upper atmosphere. Using his original shape, tint and fit, the design would become the Ray-Ban Aviators.
oR1jE TIL that the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history was committed by the Church of Scientology in order to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard.
x6ln1 TIL Stan Lee made the X-Men mutants because he didn't want to come up with a reason for their super powers, instead they were just born with them. Additionally the 1963 comic was initially a flop until the 1975 reboot by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum.
mxWaM TIL that, whilst botulism affects 200 Americans every year, Avian botulism kills vast swathes of birds, with single outbreaks killing ca. 50,000 birds and several outbreaks occurring per year
DQ78P TIL: George Lucas added 3 new shots to The Empire Strikes Back in the weeks between the 70mm Release (~100 Screens) in May 1980 and the wider 35mm Release in June 1980. He felt the final scenes were geographically confusing and wanted to clarify them with establishing shots of the ships.