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TIL the BBC once forbade employees from illuminating any workspace solely with an Anglepoise (the spring-tensioned balance-arm lamp) because Variety Dept. head Michael Standing feared low-wattage lights led creators to furtive ideas, smut innuendo, and degenerate programme material.

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9wlNX TIL Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow regions in the atmosphere, like rivers in the sky, that transport massive amounts of water vapor from of the tropics roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River. They can unleash heavy rain and cause severe flooding.
d8wvQ TIL that Gerald Ford was born as Leslie King Jr. Soon after he was born, Leslie King Sr. drew a butchers knife on his wife and baby son, prompting her to move out, divorce him and remarry a paint salesman named Gerald Ford. They then decided to give the baby his name instead.
ekJE TIL After becoming obsessed with roller coasters, Chris Sawyer created and coded RollerCoaster Tycoon entirely by himself in Assembly…arguably the most difficult programming language of all. For his efforts he received about $30 million of the estimated $180 million brought in by the game.
7adL TIL - Most of the smoke billowing up from a space shuttle launch is not exhaust. It is water vapor from the pool of water under the shuttle designed to absorb the acoustic shock waves that could otherwise tear the shuttle apart.
v1dgK TIL fuel tankers are pretty sophisticated. Baffles in the tank to evenly dissipate the force of liquid moving when the truck is accelerating or braking. Without baffles, the liquid keeps moving forward to surge and push against the front wall of the tank, increasing risk of rollover.