› added 9 years ago

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TIL the United States secret service’s first and main mission was to fight counterfeiting of US currency.

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PY4mL TIL Carl Wieman, recipient of the 2001 Nobel in Physics, delivered a lecture outlining how he created a new state of matter called Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). Einstein predicted BEC in 1925, and Wieman's techniques to make it in 1995 involved laser cooling and magnetic trapping on atoms
VMJ8G TIL of a traffic light in United States that is deliberately upside down - In 1920's the Irish community at Tipperary Hill, Syracuse didn't like that the "British" red appeared above the "Irish" green on the light and kept vandalizing it until New York State was convinced to keep it green over red.
pYAL8 TIL slingshot spiders use a tensioned web like a spring to launch themselves and their webs at prey with 100 times the acceleration of a cheetah, making them the fastest arachnids.
8ev0b TIL Godfrey the Hunchback, (1076) was assassinated by a spy below his personal latrine with a spear… in the posterior
Y76a7 TIL- There is no requirement for alcohol to have allergen warnings on the label in the U.S., and it is common for winemakers to use Chitosan (shellfish exoskeletons) as a clarifying agent, and to stop fermentation.