› added 9 years ago

1226

TIL that Pears and Almonds are members of the rose family.

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v10RK TIL Ball lightning is weird, actually real and deadly. The strange phenomenon of ball lightning appears during thunderstorms and has been known to break through windows, with nasty results.
9Y5EX TIL, Scatman Crothers (Dick Halloran on The Shining) was the voice of Hong Kong Phooey. Richard Dawson (original host of Family Feud - the one who kissed all the female contestants) was also part of the voice cast.
YpxxA TIL that Liberia, Myanmar and the United States of America are the only 3 countries not using the metric system.
YpAjd TIL in 1965, a Swedish student was told by his fiancée in East Germany that she would never be able to leave the country to live with him in Sweden. Undeterred, he took flying lessons for a year, illegally flew a Cessna from Austria into Czechoslovakia, smuggled her out, and married her in Sweden
awl7o TIL that Julia Child’s first job was with the US Office of Strategic Services (predecessor to the CIA) during WWII. One of her accomplishments was developing a recipe for shark repellant for the OSS. Her husband was also OSS when they met. The CIA has released her files to the public.