› added 7 years ago

75

TIL The Great Fire of 1910 was the size of the state of Connecticut. It spanned from eastern Washington to western Montana and 3 million acres were burned.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

VMOJZ TIL of the “megapode,” a species of bird so physically mature at birth that they already have flight feathers and can take off within hours of hatching.
nemQ7 TIL David Bleak, an Army Medic during the Korean War, reacted to an ambush by running into the trench, breaking one enemy's neck, crushing another's windpipe, then plunging his knife into the chest of a third. He then threw himself atop an American soldier to shield him from the blast of a grenade.
p8AmO TIL the Earth may not be flat but the Solar System is. Aftering seeing a graphic of an asteroid's relative distance to Earth I thought, this must be misleading, as we are not on one plane in space. But we basically are, with margins in single digit degrees.
BrAkk TIL former trash TV host Jerry Springer is now Judge Jerry Springer, and is indeed an actual civil arbitrator.
pYyee TIL Edwin Drake, the first american to successfully drill for oil, was hired by the oil company because he happened to be staying at the same hotel as the oil company's owners.