› added 6 years ago

121

TIL that penguins and other marine birds have a supraorbital gland above their eye socket that breaks down sodium in their bloodstream. Which allows them to remove salt from saltwater and make it fresh water for them to survive.

l7Nyr TIL Slade's Noddy Holder was asked to join AC/DC after Bon Scott's death in 1980
e0lA6 TIL the largest mass lynching in the U.S. was of Italian Americans in New Orleans.
lo6rV TIL The Ancient Greeks had 6 different distinct words for love. Eros, sexual passion or desire. Philia, deep friendship. Ludus, playful love. Agape, selfless love. Pragma, a long standing love. Philautia, love of the self.
6EEaJ Yes, it’s true that most jetliners are certified for automatic landings, called “autolands” in pilot-speak. But in practice they are rare. Fewer than 1 percent of landings are performed automatically, and the fine print of setting up and managing one of these landings is something I could talk about all day. If it were as easy as pressing a button, I wouldn’t need to practice them twice a year in the simulator or periodically review those tabbed, highlighted pages in my manuals. In a lot of respects, automatic landings are more work-intensive than those performed by hand. The technology is there if you need it for that foggy arrival in Buenos Aires with the visibility sitting at zero, but it’s anything but simple.
VMwGQ TIL Piers Morgan was fired as the editor of a popular British newspaper in 2004 after publishing fake photos of the torture of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers