› added 5 years ago

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TIL in 2009 US-Australian astronomers discovered the least windiest place on earth. Ridge A on the Antarctic Plateau is so calm that "the sky there is so much darker and drier, it means that a modestly-sized telescope there would be as powerful as the largest telescopes anywhere else on earth."

Read more telegraph.co.uk

via reddit.com

mjoR TIL That when people in love stare into each other’s eyes, their heartbeats synchronize
0wWLA TIL of the Mannanafnanefnd. A committee in Iceland that determines whether a name is suitable for integration into the Icelandic language. New names are considered based on compatibility with Icelandic tradition and the likelihood that it might cause the bearer embarrassment
woN1J TIL that in 2023, scientists discovered a massive structure in space called the "Big Ring"—it’s so big that it shouldn’t even exist according to our current understanding of cosmology. The universe is supposed to be uniform on large scales, with no structures bigger than about 1 billion light-years.
b9BNZ TIL In Sri Lanka bread is delivered fresh starting at 5:30AM, in special TukTuks playing Beethoven's Für Elise loudly. While Für Elise is the song of choice for choon paan sellers, it’s not used exclusively, and some opt for Christmas carols, It’s a Small World, or other equally ubiquitous tunes.
lOoa TIL the famous party song, “Fight for Your Right” by the Beastie Boys, was actually a parody of the party lifestyle. Mike D commented, “The only thing that upsets me is that we might have reinforced certain values of some people in our audience when our own values were actually totally different…”