› added 10 years ago

110

TIL Some countries use timezones with half-hour deviations - instead of the usual full hour

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a1Eb TIL in the 1910s and 20s a young man who dressed fashionably to attract women but didn’t have much else going for him was called a “jellybean”
LkMAv TIL the reason seals, whales, and other diving mammals can hold their breath for so much longer than non-diving mammals is because they have a special type of myoglobin (oxygen-biding protein) that is positively-charged, preventing disease-causing clumping (like tau in Alzheimer’s).
dDM97 TIL that during the Battle of the North Cape the cruiser HMS Belfast pursued the battleship Scharnhorst away from the first engagement, risking Scharnhost's guns in order to keep a radar track to guide a second British fleet into position to sink her
69XyZ TIL the first artificial ice rinks were made using hog's lard and salts
b6y8j TIL An Alaskan town celebrates Independence Day by launching cars off a cliff