› added 4 years ago

215

TIL in 1793, Thomas Jefferson requested a 1kg copper cylinder from France, to be used as a weight standard in adopting the metric system in the United States. The ship carrying the copper was blown off course into the Caribbean, where it was looted by pirates.

Read more npr.org

via reddit.com

Ov9L TIL that English adjectives have a specific order - Opinion, Size, Physical Quality, Shape, Age, Colour, Origin, Material, Type, Purpose
Y7nb7 TIL the largest moon in our solar system, Ganymede, is larger than the planet of Mercury
j61Nn TIL that after becoming the first Black woman to argue at the U.S. Supreme Court, and winning 9 of 10 landmark civil rights cases, Constance Baker Motley became a U.S. Judicial Court judge and handed down a decision giving women sports reporters equal access to Major League Baseball locker rooms.
ny77 TIL during WW2, when the Russians retreated they usually destroyed most buildings suitable for command posts. However, they would often leave some large buildings intact, but only after lining the buildings with time bombs set to explode weeks later - to destroy entire German headquarters at once
m1XJv TIL that Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark used to hold a regular office job at Microsoft