› added 11 years ago

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TIL that during WWII, Bicycle playing cards were made so that, when submerged in water, they could be peeled apart to reveal parts of a map inside. When all put together, they were a larger map. These decks were given to POWs, so that if they escaped, they would have a map.

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Mem8B TIL that a group of teenagers back in the early 2000s exploited a park bench’s free dial-up connection (no I’m not kidding this was an actual thing) by making a couple of international calls, racking up a lot of costs for msn, the provider of the connection.
wK08 TIL If all the gold suspended in the world’s seawater were mined, each person on Earth could have about 9 pounds of gold.
NO1b TIL that in the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, residents of Sendai received 10-30 seconds and Tokyo 60 seconds warning from Japan’s Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system before the major seismic waves hit. Alerts pushed to cellphones, TV broadcasts and web pages around the country.
Ogp7 TIL up until 1910, the Brazilian Navy routinely lashed black crewmen aboard their ships. After a crewman received 250 lashes, crews aboard 4 warships mutinied and threatened to shell Rio de Janeiro. Although Brazil did not honor promised amnesty for the mutineers, the lash was never used again.
nWeoG TIL that the increase in the gorilla population in Rwanda means that the apes are actually struggling for space in Volcanoes National Park. To fix this issue, the government plans to add to the protected space by 23%.