› added 11 years ago

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TIL studies show that when traditional intersections were replaced with modern roundabouts in the USA, there was a 37% reduction in overall collisions, 75% reduction in injury collisions, 90% reduction in fatality collisions, and 40% reduction in pedestrian collisions.

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via reddit.com

4Ge6 TIL Final Fantasy was not named before the publisher, Square, goes bankrupt. Sakaguchi wanted to name it Fighting Fantasy but the name clashed with another title. Wanting to retain the abbreviation FF, as it sounds pleasing to the Japanese pronounced as “efu efu,” he named it Final Fantasy instead.
gMy08 TIL after a passenger airline was shot down after accidentally entering Soviet airspace, President Ronald Reagan decided to authorize the U.S. military’s satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) for civilian use in order to prevent similar tragedies.
7rWwp TIL that the old man that fixes Woody in Toy Story 2 is named Geri, and is actually a character from a previous Pixar short, Geri's Game
xrL0 TIL the original floats in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade were released into the air after the parade because Macy’s didn’t know what to do with them. However they included a ticket that would fall to the ground after they popped. If you found the ticket, you could redeem it for a prize at Macy’s.
x6Ag5 TIL that less than 1 week before the playoffs finals of the NBL (precursor to the NBA), the Minneapolis Lakers, led by George Mikan, entered the World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago where they won the 'world title' against the NY Rens. A week later they went on to win the NBL title.