› added 7 years ago

108

TIL that during the American Civil War, banker J.P. Morgan bought five thousand rifles from an army arsenal at $3.50 each, which were then resold to a field general for $22 each.

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0wm9L TIL carrots are orange because of the dutch who used it to honor their leader in the battle for independence
EgepV TIL that early semiconductors, before CAD, were made by hand drawing the circuit design on graph paper at an extremely enlarged scale, then cutting that design onto a film called Rubylith, which was used to create the final photolithographic mask. Repeat for all layers on a chip.
8ePwV TIL - Ants sometimes lay a trail of pheromones that circles back onto itself, trapping all the other ants in a death spiral where the entire colony runs to death.
Ma9A TIL that a radio station in Cincinatti was the first to broadcast at 500-kilowatts - a signal so powerful, some could hear the station from the metal in their mattresses and box springs.
W1XX TIL that gray whales mating ritual involves a third “male escort” whale courting the female. Although the male escort equally vies for her attention, there is absolutely no aggression between the males. The birthing ritual, on the other hand, involves a second female whale assisting the mother.