› added 2 years ago

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TIL about Seligmannite, a rare metallic mineral named in honor of Gustav Seligmann who was a mineral collector, amateur crystallographer, author, and banker.

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OoP5g TiL about the December 14th 1944 Palawan massacre where Japanese imperial soldiers lit American soldiers on fire by sounding an air raid siren to lead them to a trench filled with gasoline instead of an air raid shelter. Of the 150 American POWs only 11 survived and escaped to American lines.
EgOPw TIL that in some parts of Ruhr region (Germany) the ground has sunk by up to 30m (12m in average) due to exzessive mining in the region. The homes of millions of people would be flooded if the pumps were stopped to keep the groundwater level artificially low. These pumps have to pump forever.
KY04a TIL that in 1973, the first mobile phone call was made by Motorola engineer Martin Cooper in New York City. Cooper made the call on a prototype mobile phone, nicknamed the "brick," to his rival at Bell Labs, announcing, "I'm ringing you just to see if my call sounds good at your end."
6ExBJ TIL There is a diving beetle named after Stephen Colbert because, according to the naming scientist, "Stephen shamelessly asked the science community to name something cooler than a spider to honor him."
JYnMB TIL- Sir Roberrt Watson-Watt, the inventor of the RADAR was caught speeding with a RADAR gun. He reportedly said "My God, if I'd known what they were going to do with it, I'd have never have invented it!'"