› added 2 years ago

65

TIL of castaway huts (or depots) which are deliberately placed on isolated islands by governments. They contain supplies and tools which can help people who become stranded there. Most were built by the New Zealand government in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

VMDB TIL that the digits of your fingers are sized roughly by the golden ratio. But even cooler, when you uncurl a fist, the trajectory of your fingertips follow the golden spiral.
YBlr TIL The Act of Habeas Corpus 1679 was only just passed . When the votes were counted, there were not enough Lords in favour, so it was decided that one of the Lords, because he happened to be fat, was worth ten votes. It started as a joke, but remains on the statute books to this day.
xVgv5 TIL As president, Herbert Hoover became the first chief executive to harness federal power to combat a crippling global recession. Hoover reformed America’s prisons, improved worker safety, and fought for better health for children
mxJ6R TIL in 1942 the BBC issued an appeal for postcards and photographs of the coast of Europe from Norway to the Pyrenees. It was actually an intelligence gathering exercise, they were sent to the War Office to help determine a suitable location (Normandy) for the eventual D-Day landings of 1944.
Rd56 TIL Landmines planted on the coasts during the Falklands War accidentally created penguin sanctuaries. The penguins are too light to detonate the mines, so they live and breed safely. The sanctuaries are so popular and profitable that there are efforts to prevent removal of the mines.