› added 1 year ago

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TIL that the red lights on top of tall buildings in cities are called “aviation obstruction lighting,” and are used to help pilots of low-flying aircraft avoid collisions with otherwise hard-to-see structures.

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via reddit.com

mxxlO TIL that Twinkies were initially filled with banana cream before WWII. When bananas were rationed due to a food shortage, the company switched to the cream filling, which turned out to be far more popular. Also, despite misconceptions, a Twinkie’s shelf life is only 25 days.
OoG8e TIL Keiko the Orca, of Free Willy fame, died after only about a year and a half after being fully released due to a failure to adapt to life in the wild. The project to free him cost roughly US$20 million.
GY9bJ TIL about the Misericorde - the 'Mercy Knife', which was a long narrow dagger used for killing wounded soldiers at the end of a battle. It was considered better than dying in pain from infection or from wounds which were not instantly fatal.
rNyed TIL that the company responsible for the Nokia ringtone was founded by Thomas Dolby.
7r1VP TIL about the reason of 'Florida Man'