› added 12 years ago

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TIL The SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest plane ever built, would go so fast its outside temperature would reach 572 F (300C). It had to be built with components that could grow as they heated. Because of this, the jet would leak fuel until it got hot.

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b4B0 TIL in a study of 200 people roleplaying a salary negotiation, men got higher salaries than women by $5,000. But when women were told they were negotiating as a mentor on behalf of a student, they drove bargains $11,000 higher than the men negotiating on behalf of themselves.
wL9M6 TIL about "lonely negatives". These are words with common prefixes or suffixes such as "dis-", "in-", "un-", "-less" but they don't have positive counterparts such as the words "disgust", "disappoint", "reckless" - they don't have "gust", "appoint", or "reckful" as their opposites.
GYVmG TIL of Nirmal Purja, a Nepalese professional Mountaineer and former Ghurka. He's currently attempting to summit the 14 tallest peaks in the world in 7 months. The previous record is just under 8 years. Only 1 month in, he's already reached the summits 6 of the peaks, including Everest.
1awNd TIL of Eric Hoffer, a writer and philosopher, who went blind from age 7 to 15. He was so afraid he would go blind again that he spent his life reading, studying and writing everything he could before he lost his sight again (which he never did).
OGb9L TIL Charlie Chaplin's body was dug up and stolen, less than 3 months after he died, in an attempt to extort money from his widow