› added 5 years ago

289

TIL of the first transcontinental trip across the United States in an automobile. In 1903 two men and a dog used 800 gallons of gas and spent/lost $8000 over 63 days to travel from San Francisco to New York in a car with no roof or windshield to win a $50 bet that they never collected.

Read more atlasobscura.com

via reddit.com

ROGQ TIL that the recurrent laryngeal nerve in Giraffes is often cited as evidence of evolution, as opposed to the “intelligent design” from God. The lengthy 15 foot nerve takes an inefficient, circuitous route; It exits the brain, goes down and around the heart, then back up to the Giraffe’s voicebox.
R5pw8 TIL that Yakov Novichenko was a Soviet officer who saved Kim Il Sung from an assassination attempt in 1946 and thus became the only non-Korean to develop a cult of personality in North Korea.
pYG4O TIL there’s a breed of cat called the Lykoi (Greek for “wolf”). They lack undercoats, the result of a naturally-occurring genetic mutation in feral cats, which along with sparse rear guard hair and a unique hair coloration makes them look like werewolves.
GY4k5 TIL I learned whale poop freshens our air
j64Wn TIL that Jonathan the tortoise was born 29 years before the US Civil War and is still alive today