› added 6 years ago

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TIL about Apophis (Egyptian god of death and darkness), an asteroid that will pass earth closer than our own satellites orbit on Friday 13th, 2029. It will touch our atmosphere, and we will be able to see it wiz overhead. There is a debated chance of it impacting Earth when it returns in 2036.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

O7oe TIL that there was a breed of dog called a “Turnspit Dog”. It was placed into a large wheel like a hamster or gerbil wheel. The wheel drove a belt connected to a turn-spit in a fireplace to rotate the meat on the turn spit. This breed is now extinct.
bXKa TIL that Pixar started as a hardware company whose core product was the Pixar Image Computer, a system primarily sold to government agencies and the medical community, and made short animations to show off the capabilities of their product.
kRVE TIL the lyrics of the first original USSR anthem commissioned by Stalin, the lyrics of the second anthem (after De-Stalinization) and the lyrics of the current anthem of Russian Federation were all written by the same man, Sergey Mikhalkov (who was mostly a writer of children books and fables).
bkg9 TIL experts can’t agree on what the best method of long distance running is, i.e. heel strike first or toe strike first. Each causes different areas of the leg and foot to be stressed.
D1eAP TIL that the USS Constitution, a wooden frigate first launched in 1797 and still active for ceremonial and educational purposes, is the only active ship in the U.S. Navy fleet to have sunk an enemy vessel in combat.