› added 12 years ago

130

TIL that Harry Potter books were translated from British to American English.

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Bvbr TIL in 1908, Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge did a test flight with Orville Wright in one of his planes to see if the US Army would be interested in buying the plane and its design. Orville crashed the plane and the lieutenant died. The US Army purchased the plane anyway.
1aX0D TIL Orbital mechanics in 60 seconds
JYJEV TIL Hippos can't really swim, but instead walk or sometimes run on the riverbed
GYR54 TIL that a pestilence very likely killed the Aztecs: within five years, 15 million people – 80% of the population – were wiped out in an epidemic named ‘cocoliztli’, meaning just pestilence
nejvd TIL that more people died on the last day of WWI than on D-Day, despite commanders knowing that the war was essentially over.