› added 12 years ago

94

TIL that the fibonacci sequence can be used to roughly convert between miles and kilometers. If the nth term is a number of miles, the nth+1 term is roughly how many kilometers it is.

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nWKXb TIL the design of large Victorian-era glasshouses takes its cue from the waterlily's huge leaves. Joseph Paxton tested his idea by standing his daughter on a floating leaf, and then went on to build the 1,851 feet (564 m) long, 128 feet (39 m) high Crystal Palace using the same principle
9YeAp TIL Henry Cavendish, noted for his discovery of hydrogen, was a "notoriously shy man". He communicated with his female servants only by notes. By one account, Cavendish had a back staircase added to his house to avoid encountering his housekeeper.
woyy1 TIL Vehicular traffic has been blocked from Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House since 1995 , following a Secret Service recommendation made after the Oklahoma City bombing
4VK5 TIL a former South African rugby player went on an axe-murdering rampage in a revenge attack for the gang rape of his daughter, who contracted HIV as a result.
epd1D TIL I learned that The Gambia uses marbles instead of paper ballots for elections