› added 9 months ago

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TIL Eiffel Tower can be 15 cm taller during the summer due to thermal expansion

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via reddit.com

7rEax TIL in 1917 the Aerowagon experimental high-speed railcar used an aircraft engine and propeller traction to go 140 kph (87mph) to carry Soviet officials. In 1921 officials successfully went from Moscow to Tula. On return it derailed at high speed killing 6 of 22 on board including the inventor.
1JLW TIL that the guy who created Spongebob is a marine biologist.
5VKLk TIL Portuguese Jesuit missionaries João Cabral and Estêvão Cacella became the first Westerners to visit Bhutan and Nepal in 1627
R581a TIL that 1 out of every 6 flights in the US is a private jet.
aplJ TIL that civilian GPS in the 90’s was purposely designed to be inaccurate, due to a feature called selective availability (SA). This changed in 2000 when President Bill Clinton decided to turn SA off and GPSs around the world instantly became 10 times more accurate.