› added 6 years ago

451

TIL - When the phone was first invented, Alexander Bell insisted that saying "Ahoy" was the correct way of answering the phone.

Read more nytimes.com

via reddit.com

ExaW TIL: The island of Bikini Atoll has a flag similar to the US’s as a symbol of the debt they believe the US owes them - while testing nuclear weapons, an H-Bomb detonated in 1954 resulted in the poisoning of many islanders from the nuclear fallout.
5YKZ9 TIL the Bopal Chemical Disaster in India, where a methyl-isocyanate leak (500 times deadlier than hydrogen cyanide) from a factory killed more than 8000 residents in one night. The MIC leak went undetected due to the factory's earlier removal of the alarm siren in order to not disturb its neighbours
dAJ8 TIL a study says a man’s semen can fight acne and erase wrinkles
VMG6Z TIL about Kenneth Taylor and George Welch, the first two American pilots to get airborne during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Both were recommended for the Medal of Honor, but this was denied on the basis that they had “taken off without orders.” Together they shot down six Japanese planes.
nQDb TIL blue light scatters the most in the atmosphere and is therefore least visible by aircrafts at night. 1939 German engineers knew that and installed blue lights on their emergency vehicles, to be spotted less easily by bombers. This is the origin of the blue emergency light.