› added 8 years ago

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TIL early water mains were made of wood and firemen would drill into them to get access and then put in a fire plug which was marked for possible future fires and evolved into modern day fire hydrants.

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X9mr TIL a sailor who wishes to grow a beard in the Royal Navy has to submit a ‘permission to stop shaving’ form. He is then allowed two weeks to 'grow a full set’ before he presents himself to the Master at Arms who will decide if his beard looks stupid or is respectfully full enough to be permitted.
R1l1 TIL that the color you see in total darkness is not black, but a dark gray called “eigengrau”.
mxg1v TIL Roddy Piper improvised the "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.... and I'm all out of bubblegum," line from They Live. John Carpenter told Roddy that he wasn't gonna rob the bank, but he was holding a shotgun and wearing sunglasses, so he needed to say something.
69Wx7 TIL Between 2002 and 2010 poachers killed 4,000 elephants, 95% of the population in Chad's Zakouma’s National Park. Now elephants and wildlife are flourishing there again after Chad invited a non-profit organization to help restore and manage it
Wmv9 TIL the sugar industry paid to play down the link between sugar and heart disease while falsely promoting saturated fat as the culprit. Documents discovered by a researcher at UCSF show how decades of misinformation shaped improper nutritional advice and caused the rise of heart disease in America.