› added 8 years ago

257

TIL fire burns faster uphill. For every 10˚ slope, the fire will double its speed. For example, if a fire is travelling at 5 km per hour along flat ground and it hits a 10˚ slope it will double in speed to 10 km per hour up the hill.

Read more cfa.vic.gov.au

via ift.tt

OGJ94 TIL that African elephants have been known to bury or assist humans who are dead, sleeping, or injured. A woman once fell asleep under a tree and woke up to find an elephant gently touching her. As more elephants arrived, they covered her with branches. The next morning, she was found unharmed.
E1Oj0 TIL In 2008, game designer Sid Meier cited the Nintendo Seal of Quality as one of the three most important innovations in video game history, as it helped set a standard for game quality that protected consumers from shovelware.
Z8QbR TIL the British Royal Navy has been instructed not to detain pirates of certain nationalities because the punishments for piracy in their home countries would make the pirates eligible for British asylum under British human rights legislation.
l7Ror TIL: Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin commissioned Sergei Eisenstein to make his two-part epic film "Ivan the Terrible". Part I he loved, but Part II he disliked so immensely that he banned it. There was supposed to be a Part III, which would never be made.
grvLW TIL Oliver Smoot, whose body was used to measure Boston's Harvard Bridge as part of an MIT fraternity prank in 1958, went on to become the chairman of the American National Standards Institute and the president of the International Organization for Standardization.