› added 10 months ago

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TIL that 'Arniston', a British East India Company sailing ship, shipwrecked with the loss of 372 lives because the ship owners refused to buy a marine chronometer; an easy and cheap addition to her equipment.

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XGkP TIL General Motors once hired prostitutes to attempt to seduce Ralph Nader in order to discredit him in his campaign to force the automobile industry to include seatbelts in its cars.
a8LVo TIL that Max Schmeling was the only boxer to knock Joe Louis out in his prime, despite the fact that Schmeling was a decade older than Louis, at the time they fought.
697PX TIL In 1838, the governor of Missouri issued Executive Order 44, which ordered “Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state.” The order wasn’t rescinded until 1976.
MPkK TIL that the phrase “to turn a blind eye” comes from British Vice Admiral Nelson, who was blind in one eye; in one battle, when he was signaled to stop attacking a fleet of Danish ships, he held up a telescope to his blind eye, saying “I really do not see the signal,” and attacked anyway
4jZN TIL that Anchorage, Alaska is roughly equidistant from New York, Tokyo, and Berlin and can reach 90% of the industrialized world by air in 9.5 hours or less. As such, its airport is the third busiest cargo hub in the world.