› added 1 year ago

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TIL The 2011 Smithville, MS EF-5 tornado, one of the strongest ever recorded, threw a semi-truck 300 yds, embedded an rv into the ground 250 yards away, and threw an SUV into the top of a water tower half a mile away before it landed crushed into a ball another quarter mile away.

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Y76LA TIL: Self replicating probes or spacecraft, also called Von Neumann probes was a concept theorized by the mathematician. He argued that this is the most efficient method of space exploration/mining as they can adapt. The concept has been used in various media such as Mass Effect, Star Trek, etc.
R7jD4 TIL in the midnight of Dec 29, 2011 Samoa loses a day and jumps forward in time to Dec. 31, 2011 without experiencing Dec 30 as they move westward of international dateline. The switch was made to improve ties with major trade partners in Australia and New Zealand.
oNVr TIL A University of Arizona study found 72% of shopping carts contain fecal bacteria and there is more fecal bacteria on a shopping cart handle than in a typical bathroom.
9wPy6 TIL that until 2012, when they switched to a bacterial source, Roche Pharmaceuticals used up to 90% of the world's annual star anise crop to produce shikimic acid, a chemical intermediate used in the synthesis of oseltamivir (Tamiflu)
neDEb TIL an American soldier, John R. McKinney, was taking a nap when a hundred Japanese soldiers launched a sneak attack on his position. He single-handedly thwarted the assault, killing 40 of them before the rest withdrew - using only his M1 Garand.