› added 5 years ago

62

TIL there are more people who have learned English as a second language than there are native speakers.

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via reddit.com

mxp5E TIL that Oville Wright, who co-invented the airplane, lived til 1948. So he made the first working airplane in 1903 and say Chuck Yeager break the sound barrier just 43 years later.
Ypb1A TIL that the German submarine U-1206 flooded as a result of improper toilet operation.
VMPG8 TIL that there were flying cars in 1947. Convair built the Model 118, or ConvAirCar, and flew it several times. It was a normal car that had a detachable wing and propellor assembly that allowed it to fly.
Oxd1 TIL The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, stood for a mere 50 years before it was destroyed by an earthquake. Its ruins stood and attracted visitors for way longer than the original statue (reportedly hundreds of years) before it was finally recycled for scrap metal.
e17L TIL that in 1912 scientist Alfred Wegener first published his theory of continental drift and was ridiculed. He died 1930 when exploring in Greenland; his body was buried there. Over the years his body sailed west at a rate of about 2cm/year carried on the back of the North American tectonic plate.