› added 7 years ago

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TIL that cats "train" their owners by vocalizing in a frequency that is pleasant to owners in a manner similar to babies

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BmNd TIL that three government research institutes spent several years and millions of dollars creating a version of kimchi that could safely (and without disgusting other astronauts) be sent into space with South Korea’s first astronaut, Ko San: space kimchi.
16GJd TIL in 1967 three astronauts - Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee - died in a cabin fire in the first test of the Apollo command and service module. Because there was no rocket fuel, the test was not considered hazardous, and emergency preparedness for it was poor.
9YD4G Today I learned that the bagger 293 existed, a 315 foot tall, 738 foot long construction vehicle used to mine coal. It moves 8,500,000 cu ft of earth a day using a 70 foot long circular saw bucket mechanism.
GA5W4 TIL The first Presidential Car to pass Secret Service demands was the Sunshine Special - a V12 1939 Lincoln Model K limousine that was used as the official state car by United States presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman which cost only $108,426 in 2023 dollars.
690kZ TIL In January 1944 the Australian 9th Division found the Japanese 20th Division’s entire cryptographic library in New Guinea. The codes were buried in a steel trunk during a retreat and found by engineers looking for mines. This find lead to around 36,000 messages being decrypted in March alone.