› added 10 years ago

88

TIL Almon Strowger was so pissed off at a telephone operator that he invented the first step switch, the step switch eliminated the need for switchboard operators.

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b94Z9 TIL: In 1666, the plague-infested village of Eyam quarantined itself inside a marked circle for 14 months. Neighboring communities left food at the edge of the circle in exchange for disinfected coins. 80% of the people died, but no one crossed the circle.
YA4P TIL that Mario Andretti once refused to drive a racing car when he discovered that the Church of Scientology was one of its sponsors.
X0PBP TIL That Typhoon Tip was the largest most intense storm ever recorded, with winds 190 mph and size of 1380 miles wide in the south pacific, north of the Solomon Islands in 1979. Hurricane Patricia (2015) had the highest winds at 215 mph but was smaller in size and didn't last as long.
jQ0M TIL that New York City has started replacing the swords stolen from public statues decades ago as crime has gone down and the city has become a “safer place.”
JYn68 TIL that the Michelin stars restaurants receive are based off of whether you would travel a long distance to eat there, and that it started as a marketing ploy by Michelin tires in the 1900's