› added 7 years ago

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TIL Leonardo Da Vinci predicted the mass use of solar energy as long ago as 1447

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16Jw8 TIL the historical meridian marker in Greenwich is actually off by about 100 metres because the unevenness in the mass of the Earth bends the light of the stars that were used to calculate it
vPeLL TIL Descendents of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr re-enacted their ancestors famous duel 200 years later
xpbw TIL when the allies bombed Hamburg in July 1943, the unusually warm and dry weather conditions created “a vortex and whirling updraft of super-heated air which created a 1,500-foot-high tornado of fire, a totally unexpected effect.”
y65p TIL upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the phrase “London Bridge is down” will announce her death to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This will set into motion “Operation London Bridge” (formed in the 1960s), which is the code name for what will happen in the days after she dies.
D16pP TIL Riding shotgun was a Wild West expression used for the person who rides next to the driver of a stagecoach for protection against bandits.