› added 1 day ago

TIL radiosondes are launched by balloon twice each day around the world, at the exact same time, to track the jet stream. When they come down, if you find one, you can keep it.

Read more weather.gov

via reddit.com

7a17 TIL Aborigines were classed as wildlife, not humans, by the Australian government until 1967!
BrwYr TIL China kept quiet about poisoned baby formula because they didn't want to ruin the 2008 Olympics. 54,000 babies were hospitalized and 6 died.
W70KL TIL that the "Wright" in the name of today's billion-dollar aviation company Curtiss-Wright is the literally the same business the Wright Brothers started after they achieved the first airplane flight (albeit after a couple of mergers).
Eg1lP TIL promoter's in the early1970's made up a fictional start date of 1916 for the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. The real start was 1972.
1aOyD TIL, merchants in the US used to let Einstein take what he needed and his secretary would write them a check later. However, many merchants didn't cash them because the signature on the check was worth more than the amount.