› added 2 years ago

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TIL that dayta is more British & dahta is more American. I've always pronounced data as dayta, particularly as a Star Trek fan growing up. Living in the UK now, watching an American reality competition show, was surprised that most of them pronounced it as dahta & had to check on my stereotypes.

QNjeX TIL that since 2007, at least 20 detached human feet have been found in the region of British Columbia/Washington State and nobody really knows why
R7l6Q TIL in 1978 British explorer Tim Severin proved it was possible for a 6th century Irish boat clad in leather to make the journey across the Atlantic from Ireland to North America. This was done to test if St. Brendan the Navigators described journey across the Atlantic was possible at the time.
yQG8w TIL that the original Volkswagon Beetle would temporarily float on water because of a sealed steel bottom with nothing exposed beneath it. Volkswagen even created a 1972 television commercial which demonstrated its ability to float. It sold for $1999 US dollars (roughly equivalent to 12k today).
mRyR TIL that Steven Spielberg promised Tom Sizemore a role in Saving Private Ryan as long as he never failed a drug test while shooting. If he failed once, even on the last day, Spielberg promised to kick him out of the movie and reshoot all of his scenes with a new actor.
pOG4 TIL the inventor of the Segway isn’t dead. His name is Dean Kaman, and he has been working on a water purification machine to bring clean water to the parts of the world without it. He designed the new Coca Cola fountain dispensers in exchange for Coke’s support in distributing his machines.