› added 5 years ago

74

TIL Japan's average elevation is actually quite low, despite the popular perception of Japan being covered in hills and mountains.

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4XaVb TIL Kaiser Wilhelm II drew up plans to invade the United States in 1897. The plan called for an attack on Boston and New York in order to neuter American power in the Pacific.
DpPj TIL that speed is now so important in financial trading that a new $300 million transatlantic cable was laid down in order to shave 5 milliseconds off communications between New York and London.
yQOgw TIL of Clive Wearing, who is incapable of forming new memories, and thus every 20 to 30 seconds has the experience of waking from a coma. He keeps a diary, and page after page is filled with some variation of the same text: "Now I am awake."
8aaBK TIL dogs tilt their head because they can't resolve the direction of sound vertically, but humans can because of our ear shape
loQDN TIL that your nose only breathes using one nostril at a time, and that the nostril in use switches every few hours. This "nasal cycle" is dictated by the same system that regulates heart rate and other unconscious bodily functions and is the reason why only one nostril gets stuffy at a time.