› added 8 years ago

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TIL Stockholm, Sweden tested a “Speed Camera Lottery” where speed limit-abiding drivers were automatically entered into a drawing to win a prize pool funded out of fines paid by speeders.

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via reddit.com

jVEM TIL, 30 years ago on this day Sept. 26th 1983. A Russian Colonel named Stanislav Petrov, now known as The man who saved the world, averted WW3. A Soviet early warning satellite detected nuclear launches from the US. Petrov trusted his instincts that the computers were malfunctioning and did nothing.
l7pj1 TIL The State of Virginia donated a statue of George Washington as a gift to Britain. Washington once swore he would never set foot on British soil ever again, so the statue is set on a foundation of imported Virginia soil to ensure that Washington did not tell a lie.
vJW4 TIL that one-third of humanity (including 60% of Europeans and 80% of North Americans) live in such light polluted areas that the Milky Way is not visible at night.
b999 TIL-that “astronaut ice cream” that you see at every science museum store only ever went up with Apollo 8 and the crew denied ever eating it.
XPAr TIL that some species of Hummingbirds can travel 385 miles on a single gram of fat.