› added 8 years ago

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TIL water towers aren’t just for water reserves, but actually creates the pressure we use.

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4kNZX TIL of one of the worst maritime disasters in US history,the explosion and sinking of the steamboat Sultana. Designed to carry 376, 2500 civil war veterans crowded the decks, desperate to get home. It was completely overshadowed by the death of Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, a day earlier.
xm10 TIL Robert Emmet Odlum made a habit of jumping off bridges in the 1800’s to prove to people that they won’t die from falling, as it was commonly thought that one would not be able to breathe as they fell through the air.
OGOOY TIL that David Bowie's “Space Oddity” was banned by the BBC in July 1969 during Apollo 11 due to its perceived bleak astronaut theme. After the Moon landing succeeded, the ban was lifted and it became a hit and was even used in BBC coverage.
NkYM TIL that in 5,000 years of human history, only 2 diseases have been eradicated: smallpox and rinderpest
4krX6 TIL an estimated 200,000 underage American men and women lied about their age in order to enlist during World War II.