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TIL that in 1845, the screw-driven HMS Rattler proved the superiority of screw propellers over paddle wheels by winning a 100-mile race against the paddle-driven HMS Alecto. Rattler then towed Alecto backward at almost 3 knots in a tug-of-war, leading to the rise of screw propulsion in ship design.

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wPeP TIL the world’s oldest joint-stock corporation, the East India Company, was also the longest surviving, spanning 274 years, run by the wealthy merchants, beyond government control, had its own private armies and ruled a sub-continent by means of political and economic subjugation.
PYA5n TIL that all every Rolls Royce pinstripe is painted by a man who used to be an old English village sign painter. It's the last manufacturing step and can't afford mistakes as the paint instantly bonds with the car body and cannot be erased.
69BnJ TIL That Fred Rodgers named his royal puppet King Friday XIII because so many people are superstitious about that day and he wanted to make it a fun day instead, so every Friday 13th was also King Friday's Birthday. Happy Birthday King Friday!!!
4kNr5 TIL that there is a nonprofit called the Astrosexological Research Institute studying sex in space
JY88l TIL a Minnesota man once sprayed toilet-papering teens who were on his property with a squirt gun full of fox urine