› added 8 years ago

102

TIL that the French word for wooden shoe, ‘sabot’ is the probable root of the word sabotage: and refers to the tactic by early Dutch unionists of throwing sabots into the gears of factory or farm machinery, effectively stopping work until the equipment could be repaired.

8aknb TIL: Howard Ulrich and his 7-year old son were fishing in Lituya Bay, Alaska, in 1958 when a landslide generated a 1,720ft tsunami, the largest in recorded history. He and his son both miraculously survived, being found nearly a mile from where they were anchored at the time the wave hit their boat.
OAWe TIL Humans are capable of using the same principles of echolocation that bats, dolphins, and whales use to navigate their surrounds; One of the better-known demonstrators of this phenomenon is Daniel Kish, a man who can ride a bicycle and hike in the wilderness despite having no eyes at all
kOgxE TIL The anarchist thinker Peter Kropotkin was a military officer turned geologist. In 1871 Kropotkin explored the glacial deposits of Finland and Sweden. In 1873, he published a map and paper in which he showed that the existing maps entirely misrepresented the physical features of Asia.
nBjP TIL that a member of metal band ‘Pig Destroyer’ created a side project with a parrot as the lead vocalist. They had 3 EPs.
e0Wo6 TIL the U.S. has given nuclear weapons to Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Italy but since all U.S. nukes have special protections, they are not easily armed without first getting authorization codes from the U.S.