› added 11 years ago

100

TIL that ‘the wave’ was first brought to world-wide attention during the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, and for many people living outside of North America, this was the first time they had ever seen the phenomenon - English speakers outside of North America refer to it as the “Mexican wave”

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VJe0 TIL that school teacher Gail Wise was the first ever purchaser of a Ford Mustang, paying $3419 for it in 1964 and becoming “the coolest teacher in school that year”. She still owns the car & it’s done 68000 miles.
p8xep TIL that the US's National Weather Service has a computer model to predict storm surges due to hurricanes called the Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes model, or SLOSH.
E1bpW TIL about Project Retro, an idea proposed by the US Air Force around the 1960's that called for a thousand rocket engines to be strapped to the equator of Earth which would allow the US to slow/stop the rotation of the planet in an effort to "dodge" Soviet ICBMs.
W7Dd TIL certain acronyms such as KIGY (Klansman I greet you), AKIA (a Klansman I am) and AYAK (Are you a Klansman) allow Ku Klux Klan members to secretly affiliate with and identify other KKK members.
9wVjQ TIL about Hum, Croatia which is the smallest town in the world. The town is smaller than a football field and has a population of just two dozen people. Even so, Hum has a museum, an inn, two churches, and even a unique liqueur called biska which can't be found anywhere else in the world.