› added 3 years ago

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TIL that the Great Vowel Shift between 1400-1700 was a series of pronunciation changes in English. With that many words froze with spelling and pronunciations not matching. This is why some English vowels are a mess with words like "meat" and "meet" being spelt differently but pronounced the same.

NXB0N TIL that while lightly roasted coffee contains more caffeine, dark roasts are also more soluble than lighter ones, which means it is easier for the caffeine from a darker coffee roast to wind up in your cup.
6bMQ TIL that of the 2.9 million female high school athletes, only 3% are cheerleaders, yet cheerleading accounts for nearly 65% of all catastrophic injuries in girls’ high school athletics.
p8DgA TIL: Kermit has been a staple of all Jim Henson shows and was never specified as a frog until Johnny Carson called him one after a Tonight Show appearance.
Oo4G6 TIL US Army still has dummy tanks. They have dummy M1 tanks that imitate not only in appearance but also in its heat signature in order to appear real to infrared detectors. These decoys cost only $3,300, compared to $4.35 million for a real M1. It's the same size as a duffel bag when disassembled.
QNPYE TIL: In the religion of ancient Rome, a haruspex was a person trained in haruspicy, the divination practice of inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals, particularly the livers of sheep and poultry. The reading of omens specifically from the liver is known by the Greek term hepatoscopy.