› added 6 years ago

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TIL that during World War 2, 18 American shipyards produced 2,710 Liberty ships (a type of cargo ship), a rate of 3 ships every 2 days. Each ship took an average of just 42 days to complete.

pY1ab Til that Nicholas Trist the amassador sent to negotiate the end to the Mexican American war was fired from his post by president Polk. Trist responded by ignoring Polk’s order to return to the US and continued to negotiate the end of the war with Mexico.
NXP46 TIL A camel's hump does not hold water. It actually stores fat. The camel uses it as nourishment when food is scarce. If a camel uses the fat inside the hump, the hump will become limp and droop down. With proper food and rest, the hump will return to normal.
MeWnW TIL the Ancient Silk Road city of Merv, Turkmenistan had once held the title of the world's largest city during the 12th-13th century with a population of more than 500,000 and in 1221 was horrifically decimated in its entirety by the Mongols in one of the worst genocides in human history
xVp00 TIL that "pink slime" is a meat by-product produced by heating and centrifuging beef trimmings. It is approved for limited human consumption in the United States but is banned for human consumption in the European Union.
W8GX TIL that Finland once accidentally built a lighthouse on the Swedish side of their border. Instead of simply transferring the lighthouse to the Swedes, the two countries redrew the border, so that the lighthouse ended up on Finnish soil.