› added 13 years ago

169

TIL that if two pieces of metal touch in space, they become permanently stuck together. This reaction is called cold welding.

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6doY TIL two brothers inherited one of the Hawaiian islands, Niihau, and have turned down all offers to sell including $1 billion from the U.S. government
MGAV TIL there exists an image of Columbia space shuttle reentering atmosphere just before it disintegrated. It was snapped casually by people in Kirtland Air Force Base testing their tracking telescope.You can see debris stream out from left wing.
DZdP TIL that in the 40s, computer memory systems used mercury as an acoustic medium. Alan Turing suggested gin as a cheaper alternative.
GAej7 TIL that for a couple of years in the twentieth century, Colorado, Mississippi and Texas celebrated Thanksgiving twice a year on the third and fourth Thursdays of November.
NXw06 TIL in mid-1843, writer Charles Dickens began to suffer from financial problems, and matters worsened when his publishers threatened to reduce his monthly income. To prevent this, Dickens’ spent 6 weeks obsessively writing a novella. The result? “A Christmas Carol” - which sold out in 3 days.