› added 5 years ago

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TIL that when America's first rocket scientist, Robert Goddard, theorized that rockets could reach the moon, the New York Times harshly criticized him and wrote that he "lacked the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." 49 years later, Apollo 11 succeeded and the NYT published a retraction.

loe5G TIL that there is a remote, Alpine village in Austria with a population of just over 1,000 which has its own underground/metro line. It’s just 1.3 km long, has 4 stations and connects a parking lot with some ski lifts located at the opposite ends of the village.
ADGPn TIL In 1963 there were only 417 bald eagles breeding pairs in the 48 states. They had been ravaged by the effects of the insecticide DDT. Today there are 72,000 individuals in the lower 48 states, and 143,000 including Alaska. They are the ultimate Endangered Species Act success story.
gMdgy TIL People in the final stages of hypothermia engage in "paradoxical undressing" because, as they lose rationality and their nerves are damaged, they feel incredibly, irrationally hot. They strip off their clothes to cool themselves down as they are freezing to death and then start burrowing.
JYvmV TIL of Bayocean, Oregon. A city that sank into the Pacific Ocean because they were told by military engineers to build two jetties but could only afford one, so they built the one making problems worse.
aw0bb TIL that in 1997 three boys in war- torn Sierre Leone were on the brink of starvation, when they spotted a single yam under a tree. They desperately went to dig it up, but when they did they discovered a 100 carat diamond underneath.