› added 9 years ago

275

TIL that there are many untouched plane wrecks in the UK dating from WWII, and that removing anything from the wreckage site is an offence under law

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VBkJ0 TIL At the 1829 Rainhill trials John Ericsson and John Braithwaite's Novelty was the fastest of the locomotives, traveling up to 45km/h, but a series of breakdowns led to George and Robert Stephenson's slower but consistent Rocket winning the prize.
VMdZ0 TIL Matthew Perry lost the tip of his middle finger as a child “due to an unfortunate door-shutting accident”
bAka TIL that metals such as iron, copper, gold, and even uranium require running water to become concentrated into ore deposits through a process called ore genesis.
Ovva TIL Sony released a kit that allows PS2s to be used as a personal computer.
dJJZ TIL that in 1856, an Indian mathematician was hired to calculate the height of Mount Everest and found it to be exactly 29,000 ft. Authorities released the height as 29,002 ft to avoid speculation that they had just given a rounded estimate as it would have been hard to believe the exact figure.