› added 8 months ago

48

TIL that the two major political parties/groupings in Victorian Britain used gentlemen's social clubs as their official headquarters, complete with printing presses and mail franking, whilst horse-drawn cabs ferried MPs from the club to Parliament for votes in 8 minutes flat.

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R7Vww TIL that Stan Lee used alliterative names like Peter Parker and Reed Richards because he has a poor memory - having first and last name start with the same letter made them easier to remember
m11jO TIL of the Sydney Tar Ponds, an area in Sydney, Nova Scotia where a local steel mill was continuously pouring over 750,000 tons of sludge and toxic chemicals into the area for over 100 years. The $400m cleanup finished by burying the sludge in concrete and turning it into a local park.
R5Zbl TIL of the ir. D.F. Wouda Steam Pumping Station, the largest still operational steam-powered pumping station in the world.
7r9yP TIL of the frog galvanoscope. The first electrical voltage testers were made by using a frog's leg with the sciatic nerve still attached and connecting two points on the leg to a potential electrical source.
4YlJ TIL dragonfly wings actually kill bacteria. There is a variety of mechanisms for this to happen, but one of those is by literally ripping open the bacteria with sharp, nano-sized pillars that coat the wings.