› added 2 years ago

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TIL about Draisines: pedal-powered rail-cycles. They are used for recreation on unused railway lines in Europe, South Korea & the USA. In the United States, tours have operated in several states nationwide: CA ME, OR & the Adirondack Mountains (NYS). They used to be used for railway maintenance.

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Oo7l7 TIL the oldest known spider lived for 43 years (1974-2016), and did not die of old age, but was instead killed by a parasitic wasp.
nW9VG TIL the Siege of Sarajevo lasted 1,425 days, the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.
KkpE TIL that we say “red heads” instead of a more appropriate “orange heads” because we needed a word to describe redheads before we needed a word for the uncommon color of orange.
VMX8p TIL In 2003, a woman had a heart attack during a flight. The attendant asked for any doctor on board, and 15 expert cardiologists appeared, saving her life.
gEKL TIL Henry Ford once balked at paying $10,000 to General Electric for work done troubleshooting a generator, and asked for an itemized bill. The engineer who performed the work, Charles Steinmetz, sent this: “Making chalk mark on generator, $1. Knowing where to make mark, $9,999.” Ford paid the bill.