› added 3 years ago

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TIL Ethanol works as an antiknock agent just as well as tetraethyllead (TEL) when blended in fuel at 20-30%. General Motors decided to go with TEL instead of ethanol because it was patentable and thus profitable. Internal memos showed they knew of TEL alternatives but publicly denied them.

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VMNgZ TIL that a "frown" isn't a upside-down smile like cartoons and symbols suggest, but rather it's more of an angry face
kJrL4 TIL "The Diary of Anne Frank" was pulled out of a rejection pile at Doubleday by editor Judith Jones. After reading it all day, she insisted to her boss that it must be published. He said, 'What? That book by that kid?'
9YmLp TIL that in 1988, the CIA paid $2 MM to Chad in order to extract an advanced Soviet attack helicopter (Mi-25) from an abandoned Libyan air base using two MH-47 Chinook transport helicopters, flying a total of 500 miles under the cover of night
kOnd4 TIL In June 2013, a fossil analysis discovered a large lizard in Myanmar. The extinct reptile was given the moniker Barbaturex morrisoni in honor of Morrison. "This is a king lizard, and he was the lizard king, so it just fit," said Jason Head, a paleontologist at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
wD41 TIL Noah Webster(the same Webster of Webster’s Dictionary) decided American’s should be independent, so he changed the spelling of many words from their English counterparts.