› added 8 years ago

84

TIL that most above ground power lines have "Shield Wires" which are meant to ground lightning strikes or discharges from other lines

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

VM9OB TIL: Wilbur & Orville Wright's father gifted them a toy helicopter (based on an invention of French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Pénaud). They played with it until it broke, and then built their own. They later pointed to their experience with the toy as the spark of their interest in flying.
7rnEM TIL Queen Elizabeth II has had a lifelong love for Corgi dogs. She was gifted her 1st Corgi, “Susan,” in 1944 for her 18th b-day. Since ascending to the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth had over 30 Corgis, all descendants of her 1st Corgi Susan. The last descendant died 74 years later, in 2018.
Y70kx TIL U.S. railroads adopted the Standard Time System on the "Day of Two Noons." On Nov. 18, 1883, the Univ. of Pittsburgh's observatory telegraphed railroads at the exact moment of high noon under the 90th meridian line to reset/synchronize their clocks, dissolving the 100+ timezones previously used.
vVWr TIL: To camouflage aircraft factories in suburban Los Angeles during WWII, the military built simulated neighborhoods on their rooftops complete with fake cars, roads, homes and foliage. Actors were hired to inhabit these spaces too.
9w8eQ TIL of WT Stead a pioneering journalist and editor, who led investigations into underage prostitution and Jack The Ripper before eventually dying on the RMS Titanic (whose sinking he had predicted) after giving up his seat in a lifeboat.