› added 10 months ago

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TIL: Leonardo da Vinci designed scuba gear for sneak attacks on enemy ships from underwater. The leather suit was equipped with a bag-like mask that went over the diver’s head. Attached to the mask around the nose area were two cane tubes that led up to a cork diving bell floating on the surface.

W7XJY TIL about sugar alcohols --a component that is now everywhere and cannot be properly digested by humans, hence can cause several gut and digestive issues
M7Q7W TIL Singapore was the first country to introduce an electronic toll collection scheme to manage traffic congestion by the way of road pricing in 1975. It has since been introduced in other cities in the world such as in London and Stockholm and has been proposed for New York City and San Francisco.
grXjy TIL The longest scheduled commercial flight was logged by Air Tahiti Nui in March and April 2020 when it could not land in LAX for refueling due to travel restrictions. The flight from Papeete to Paris covered 9,765 miles, compared to the current longest route between NYC and Singapore (9,537 mi).
W77kX TIL that the saying "I'll sleep when I'm dead." may have first been said by the hero Gilgamesh. This conversation with the god Shamesh is from the Epic of Gilgamesh, captured on clay tablets 4000 years ago in the world's oldest written story. Jump down to the beginning of Part III
1ajgd TIL Juice Company Dumped 12,000 Tonnes Of Orange Peels On Virtually Lifeless Soil, 16 Years Later, It Turned Into A Lush Forest