› added 12 years ago

66

TIL: Battleships are obsolete and all have been decommissioned worldwide.

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698W7 TIL going to the beach and swimming in the ocean for leisure is a relatively modern practice in the western world. Prior to the 17th century, Europeans historically viewed beaches as frightening places, and "only peasants sought refuge from the heat in the cool seawater".
Lk6b9 TIL: The reason capsaicin (the chemical in peppers) makes you feel like you’re burning is because it lowers the tolerance of the pain receptors in your mouth such that your own body heat is enough to trigger them to tells your brain that things are dangerously hot.
X0gYr TIL that the city of St. Louis stole the 1904 Olympic Games from the city of Chicago.
R76jl TIL that although Usain Bolt has won 8 gold medals in the Olympics, he only ran for 114 seconds in the finals. When you include the preliminary rounds, Bolt has spent only 325 seconds on the Olympics track. This means that he has got a gold medal for every 36 seconds, including qualifying rounds.
Wk5K9 TIL that Japanese Emperor Hirohito published several scientific papers on marine biology from his laboratory at the Imperial Palace. His contributions included descriptions of several species of hydrozoa new to science.