› added 1 month ago

6

TIL that despite a persistent popular myth, the Great Wall of China is NOT visible from space with the naked eye, a fact confirmed by astronauts.

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gMKOb TIL: Charlie Chaplin made the Hitler taunting film, "The Incomparable Despot", in 1940 utilizing his own cash since none of the Hollywood studios were happy with infuriating the Germans as they had money related relations with them. The film is said to be perhaps the best work of Charlie Chaplin.
6EP18 TIL that the white area in the center of ice cubes is a buildup of impurities, mostly sediment and trapped air bubbles. Because freezing starts from the outside in, these materials are pushed to the center of the cube while the pure areas remain clear.
Yp7rZ TIL that Isaac Newton, who revolutionized mathematics and physics, spent almost as much time writing about and studying alchemy, and firmly believed in its viability as a science.
jWpa TIL many words in the Greek language have no clear origin (including ‘labyrinth’ and 'tyranny’), and are thought to have come from an unrecorded 'Pre-Greek’ language spoken before the early Greeks arrived in the area
78J9p TIL The largest swimming pool in the US was so large, lifeguards needed rowboats to patrol it. Fleishhaker Pool, built in San Francisco in 1924, measured 1,000 x 150 feet, contained 6.5 million gallons of water, and could hold 10,000 swimmers. In 1999 it was turned into parking for the zoo.