› added 11 years ago

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TIL in 1978, a landing gear indicator light malfunctioned on a passenger jet approaching Portland, OR. In a holding pattern, the crew spent over an hour inspecting the issue until the jet ran out of fuel and crashed, killing 10 people. The landing gear had actually been down all along.

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Z81r4 Today I Learned that the Exxon Valdez disaster led to the creation of Credit Default Swaps, the financial instrument that massively contributed to the Global Financial Crisis.
yVOY8 TIL that the myth that vitamin C cures/reduces colds was started by aging two time Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling, as he was convinced taking large doses of the vitamin would make him live longer and could even cure cancer
YkXr TIL Ring Pops were invented as an alternative to thumb sucking.
jNwAQ TIL Godwin’s Law is one of the oldest and most well-known internet memes that says “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches 1.” This means that as a conversation on the internet goes on, the likelihood of someone mentioning Hitler increases
JYbKv TIL about the Kinsey Scale. Created by Alfred Kinsey in 1948. Kinsey thought that sexuality was fluid and could change over time. He created a scale 7 point scale with 0 being exclusively heterosexual and 6 being exclusively homosexual. The seventh point X is for asexuals.