› added 8 years ago

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TIL that the U.S. Secret Service uses code names (assigned by White House Communications agency) for the U.S. Presidents, first ladies and prominent persons. Earlier it was for security purposes but now it’s just for brevity, clarity and tradition.

dDkAZ TIL that Michael Jordan played against Sherman Douglas 30 times in his NBA career. And won all 30. It's the most lopsided matchup for any two players in NBA history.
pYvGA TIL when the Pope dies they are buried in 3 different coffins. One of Cypress, One of Lead, and One of Oak, Elm, or Walnut.
jAYM TIL that high-fiber diets work to lower your cholesterol in a roundabout way: by interfering with bile absorption in the intestines. Because the bile can’t get absorbed as well, the bile gets flushed out with your poop, and so the body makes more bile salts, using cholesterol as fuel.
ZYZB TIL that the ‘50% of marriages end in divorce’ claim is a myth; the overall rate has never exceeded 41%, has been declining from that high since the 1980s, and the divorce rate for college graduates is probably under 25%
6EEaJ Yes, it’s true that most jetliners are certified for automatic landings, called “autolands” in pilot-speak. But in practice they are rare. Fewer than 1 percent of landings are performed automatically, and the fine print of setting up and managing one of these landings is something I could talk about all day. If it were as easy as pressing a button, I wouldn’t need to practice them twice a year in the simulator or periodically review those tabbed, highlighted pages in my manuals. In a lot of respects, automatic landings are more work-intensive than those performed by hand. The technology is there if you need it for that foggy arrival in Buenos Aires with the visibility sitting at zero, but it’s anything but simple.