› added 1 year ago

55

TIL Medieval people and ancient Romans washed their clothes in pee.

Read more smithsonianmag.com

via reddit.com

OwD1 TIL that in response to a “catastrophic emergency,” the United States government can be suspended and replaced with a single, combined branch “coordinated” by the President, indefinitely.
gMwob TIL about microbursts. A microburst is created by a column of sinking air that after hitting ground level, spreads out in all directions and is capable of producing damaging straight-line winds of over 240 km/h (150 mph)
yVKYM TIL that beginning in 1984, NASA administrator James M. Begg, who feared the number 13, stopped the sequential numbering of Space Shuttle flights in order to avoid that number. After STS9, the next shuttle flight was numbered 41-B using an arcane system based on the fiscal year.
M5Y8 TIL Richard Nixon entered politics by answering a newspaper ad from a wealthy Republican group of businessmen seeking a new inexperienced candidate to finance and support.
wLvvM TIL: Coca-cola identifies heavy users of its products as anyone who consumes more than 1,000 sodas a year. This represents 20% of total customers. Coke focuses its campaign efforts on these users as it's easier to manipulate them rather than try to get the other 80% to consume more.