› added 10 years ago

228

TIL A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus

Read more space-facts.com

via reddit.com

jJDa TIL that Octopus eyes do not have a blind spot and evolved separately from vertebrate eyes - an example of convergent evolution.
1aPO7 TIL about the Chicago Spire, a planned 2000 foot high skyscraper which would have been the highest building in the Americas, and 2nd tallest in the world. It would have looked like a "tall twisting tree" or "blade of grass." It was cancelled in 2008 due to the economic crisis.
9wZdD TIL that around the turn of the 20th century, so many people got tetanus from infected wounds from 4th of July fireworks, it got a nickname of "Patriotic Tetanus".
d8kQK TIL that in the US, Americans would raise their right hand in an upward direction (similar to a Nazi salute) when they recited the pledge of allegiance. It was repealed by Congress in 1942 (for obvious reasons) to have the right hand over the heart as we know it today.
dDwBQ TIL about the 1886 short story “How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid Atlantic by a Survivor”, which served as a cautionary tale about the dangers of ships having too few lifeboats. Its author, William Thomas Stead, later died during the Titanic sinking in 1912.