› added 4 years ago

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TIL of 'Death by GPS,' or the deaths of people who follow their GPS systems off cliffs, into lakes, and deep into the desert. These deaths are mainly attributed to "uncritical acceptance of turn-by-turn commands and paying more attention to the navigation system than what is in front of them."

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LkBvQ TIL a Norman army of 500 men abandoned their encampment due to being "tormented by tarantula spiders"
R74wj TIL that bathroom Hand Dryers without HEPA filters that are supposed to be more sanitary than paper towels are actually creating “Bacterial Highways” In Offices
VBXpQ TIL during WW2 the Japanese sunk the USS Indianapolis, the captain of the Indianopolis, Charles B. McVay, would receive harrowing letters/phonecalls from the parents of the fallen sailors blaming him for their childrens' death over the years. He died in 1968, via a self-inflicted gunshot to the head
eppOn TIL: Cigarettes were created with the idea of "a woman's cigar" in mind since cigars were considered unladylike. Hence the -ette at the end of the word "cigarette".
rN0k1 TIL huge rogue waves were dismissed as a scientifically implausible sailors' myth by scientists until one 84ft wave hit an oil platform. The phenomenon has since been proven mathematically and simulated in a lab, also proving the existence of rogue holes in the ocean.