› added 7 years ago

129

TIL Electric eels are not actually true eels at all and are more closely related to catfish.

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

yQ1OX TIL Elephants were used as combat in wars as late as the 1890’s and continued to be used in non-combat roles all the way up to the Vietnam War
ObRg TIL that Al-Beruni, a mathematical genius, calculated radius of earth 1 thousand years ago (alone). There’s a mere difference of 16 km between his value and modern day value.
kOBJ4 TIL that 4 divers literally exploded when a member of the boat crew accidentally opened the outer hatch of their decompression chamber. The men went from 305ft. down to sea level instantaneously.
ppyZ TIL Lego has actual “master builders” (aka Certified Professionals). There are only 13 of them and they aren’t accepting any further candidates.
16bDD TIL that “The Cloister and the Hearth,” a historical novel written in 1861 by Charles Reade, was the favorite book of both Thomas Wolfe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Rudyard Kipling & Oscar Wilde loved it; George Orville couldn’t stand it. It’s a tale of forbidden love, adventure, betrayal, & action.