› added 12 years ago

98

TIL that the State of Washington was originally named Columbia, but, in order to prevent confusion with the District of Columbia, its name was changed to Washington

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

E1Kx TIL In 1941-42, during ‘Operation Barbarossa’, the Nazi’s captured roughly 5.5 million Soviet prisoners of war resulting in one of the most concentrated mass killings in human history
X0GO8 Today I learned that the chorus of the song "Oh My Darling, Clementine" is from the point of view of a man who was romantically in love with Clementine, not that of Clementine's father.
Z8Nbv TIL that "Share the Road" signs are being replaced by signs that say "Bicycles May Use Full Lane" because so many people misunderstood the meaning of "Share the Road"
5YGQr TIL A solar filtered telescope with a magnification of 50x to 100x is needed to be able to see the transit of Venus across the sun. Binoculars with 7x magnification can also project an image that shows Venus as a very tiny black dot on the disc of the sun
PkjE TIL that cicada song is loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss in humans should the cicada sing just outside the listener’s ear. Males disable their own tympana while calling, thereby preventing damage to their hearing.