› added 8 years ago

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TIL that hydraulic fracturing (fracking), was often considered too expensive to realistically pursue until an engineer discovered more efficient methods in 1997. Although Nicholas Steinsberger saved his company and changed the industry, he did not receive so much as a bonus.

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6Ee6X TIL in 1941 a Dutch Navy ship escaped the Japanese by being disguised as an island and only sailing at night. It went from Indonesia to Australia without being detected.
R5bB6 TIL that the Iceberg That Sank the Titanic likely had one week to live, two at most.
E1JVx TIL In 1996, a group of scientists claimed to have found evidence of microscopic fossils formed by Martian primitive life billions of years ago on a meteorite discovered in Antarctica.
b6PL0 TIL although Vietnam and China share the same calendar, the one-hour timezone difference can lead to occasional mismatches. Typically, this results in only a one-day disparity, but in 1985, the difference was so pronounced that Vietnam's Lunar New Year occurred a full month earlier than in China
X0p6Q TIL that some of the characters on the TV series Doug are unusual colours like green and purple because creator Jim Jinkins solidified the characters' early designs with friend David Campbell at a small Mexican restaurant, and Jim was in a "margarita stupor".