› added 11 months ago

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TIL that the Alyeska (Trans-Alaska) Pipeline was built 11 mi (~18 km) "too long" to account for the fact that yearly temperatures in Alaska have a ~150 F (~65 C) range, which causes the pipeline to grow and shrink in length by up to 5 mi (~8 km).

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via reddit.com

OGLdY TIL Chinese Prime Minister Wellington Koo earned multiple degrees from Columbia in New York. Koo's 1912 PhD thesis was "The Status of Aliens in China" and Columbia has a fellowship bearing his name to doctoral students in social science focused on East Asia
wLXgE TIL dogs can become afflicted by Happy Tail, a syndrome where the tail is wagged so hard that it hits walls, furniture, and people until it begins bleeding. Because of the wagging, that blood is then flicked onto walls, ceilings, and anything else in the vicinity.
b9DkE TIL that in 2014 Zara released striped pajamas with a sheriff badge which looked like a prisoner uniform from Jewish concentration camps. Needless to say, they got a lot of shit for that and pulled them off store shelves.
PylL TIL of “Herman the German”, one of four massive cranes built to lift German U-Boats during WW2. It was given to the US as post-war reparation, and still works today in the Panama Canal, after 70+ years of service.
nWppP TIL about the Liber Paradisus (Paradise Book), a law text promulgated in 1256 by the city of Bologna (Italy) which proclaimed the abolition of slavery and the release of serfs. On 25 August 1256, the head of city government announced the liberation of about 6,000 serfs, owned by 400 lords