› added 6 years ago

104

TIL Tim Duncan was almost an olympic swimmer but took up basketball when Hurricane Hugo destroyed his training pool and he was too afraid of sharks to train in the ocean

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BrQjK TIL: in 1952 President Truman attempted to nationalize the Steel Industry during a worker’s strike. Using an executive order to try and seize steel mills and force workers back to the job to support the Korean War, it was overturned by the Supreme Court for exceeding presidential authority
vWE4 TIL the US tried to make cat guided bombs during WWII to hit enemy ships. The hope was that the cat would see the ship as “dry land” and steer the bomb to the target, in an effort to avoid getting wet. The project was abandoned because the cats would lose consciousness in the low G conditions.
wLmOM TIL Kano Jigoro, the father of Judo, asked to be buried in his white belt to be remembered as a learner and not the black belt master that he was.
LkaEv TIL the Koh-i-Noor is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world at 105.6 carats and part of the Britain Crown Jewels. It used to weigh 191 carats but it failed to impress viewers in Britain. In 1852 Prince Albert ordered it to be cut. The significant amount of weight loss was due to flaws found.
4dpN TIL the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company once sent out scratch & sniff stickers to educate the public on the smell of a gas leak, only for it to backfire when the smell of the unopened envelopes were mistaken for gas leaks.