› added 9 years ago

376

TIL “UVB-76” is a mysterious Russian radio signal (on 4625 kHz). For almost 40 years a repeating buzzing sound has been broadcasted, though every very few years it stops, and a Russian voice reads numbers and Russian names. In 2013, for the first time, UVB-76 issued an order: “Command 135 initiated”

Read more dailydot.com

via reddit.com

rN6Nw TIL that a portuguese writer had his books criticized by the portuguese goverment, which made him go into exile in Spain, however, he ended up being known in Portugal and when he died his body returned to his country.
a8nPb TIL goldfish have a pigment in their skin which is sensitive to the amount of light. If they don't get enough light exposure, they can eventually turn white.
X0Ox8 TIL that inventor Elisha Gray, who lost the patent for the telephone to Alexander Graham Bell, also invented the first fax machine, using telegraph lines to transmit handwriting and documents in 1887
ANNog TIL of a type of ant called a "gamergate". It is a worker ant that can lay eggs and reproduce (unlike typical worker ants which are sterile), and some species of ants have completely replaced queens with gamergates.
vPp9B TIL While traveling to the Tehran Conference in 1943 on the USS Iowa, FDR’s ship was almost torpedoed by the escorting destroyer USS William D Porter. The incident was caused when one of the destroyer’s crew members failed to remove the primer of the torpedo while doing a training exercise.