› added 7 months ago

49

TIL King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia are cousins

Read more librarysearch.unwsp.edu

via reddit.com

Rv59 TIL that, on average, one Google search consumes the same amount of electricity as powering a 60 watt light bulb for 17 seconds.
6EgGY TIL the US Navy replaced expensive and clunky periscope controls on submarines with Xbox 360 controllers, which reduced training time from hours to minutes
grOk8 TIL that a dump truck caused a New York City elevated freeway to collapse in 1973. The truck was found to have been 9 tons overloaded and the company operating it was blamed. The contract to clean up the results of the failure was subsequently awarded to the same company.
78Wrr TIL that Great Britain accidentally adopted the gold standard in 1717 due to Isaac Newton (who was at the time the master of the Royal Mint) setting the exchange rate of silver to gold too low, thereby causing silver to go out of circulation.
6EgLY TIL that MAS*H aired on BBC2 in the UK without a laugh track, as the creators of the show intended it to be seen, while CBS studio executives would not air the show in the US without one. Series creator Larry Gelbart later said: "I always thought it cheapened the show. The network got their way."