› added 12 years ago

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TIL Ben Sliney gave the SCATANA order on 9/11 that grounded all 4,200~ planes in US airspace. It was his first day on the job, and the first time in history the order had been used.

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7rdBp TIL Over a period of four centuries, the accumulated error of adding a leap day every four years amounts to about three extra days. Therefore, the Gregorian calendar drops three leap days every 400 years.
XQor TIL that the Bank of England operates a Mutilated Banknotes service so if you damage a tenner in the washing machine, you can send it off for a replacement.
R71gw TIL an almost 80 year old man fought the British in 1775, survived being stabbed multiple times and went on to live well into his 90s.
NXMnb TIL The internal GPS of a specialized tracking mount for solar astronomy takes two minutes for its sun-sensor to detect the sun. It can also model the sun's position if it goes behind a cloud
PvgG TIL that there is a disorder called “William’s Syndromes” in which one of its primary features is “pathological friendliness”