› added 4 years ago

79

TIL of the Lighthouse of Maracaibo; a weather system appearing in Venezuela approximately half the year which results in near-continuous lightning for ten hours a day.

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Oo94X TIL that about 85 percent of hospitals still use pagers because hospitals can be dead zones for cell service. In some hospital areas, the walls are built to keep X-rays from penetrating, but those heavy-duty designs also make it hard for a cell phone signal to make it through but not pagers.
1lXr TIL: English Pirate/Privateer Sir Francis Drake captured Spanish galleon Cacafuego in 1579 with ease, by firing ‘Chain Shot’ (two cannonballs connected by a chain) at its mizzen mast, severing it completely.
5YxXr TIL that legendary stand up comedian Lenny Bruce pretended to be gay to get out of service after four invasions in the Pacific in 1945, after 30 months of service. Bruce got his Undesirable Discharge papers 3 weeks after confessing to a navy doctor... He was the inpiration for Crpl. Klinger in MASH.
XX6D TIL that when you look up at the blue sky and see white dots flying around, you’re actually seeing your own white blood cells.
ZMRQ TIL you can survive entirely on a diet of potatoes and butter, which provide all the necessary nutrients the human body needs