› added 7 years ago

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TIL a platinum weight kept in a French vault that defines a perfect kg keeps experiencing minor fluctuations in mass. Now a perfect crystal sphere that took two years to polish and has a fixed number of atoms is being developed as the new standard

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naJW TIL Genghis Khan may have been killed by an arrow to the knee
4XLAa TIL that although the Chernobyl nuclear-power-plant had a meltdown in 1986 and had rendered the land around it uninhabitable, the remaining reactors of the facility remained in normal operation and generated power until 2000.
VMaNB TIL in the early 20th century there were baby alligators in the Boston Public Garden. They were fed live rats and mice by local residents
9byM TIL The FBI sent a letter to Martin Luther King Jr. suggesting that he commit suicide within 34 days or have his sexual exploits exposed to the nation.
mxP5E TIL Rory Kinnear's father Roy was also an actor and played Mr. Salt in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)