› added 6 years ago

99

TIL That Ulysses S. Grant's middle initial stood for nothing. It was a typo on a application to West Point.

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NXEDJ TIL that, while it has no means of propulsion (which would risk distorting the results of its measuring instruments), the RV FLIP can sink partially vertically, to be submerged in the manner of a platform to study undersea sound waves. Its upright position suggested that it had sunk.
7r9lp TIL studies have determined that the closing of the nuclear power plants in Japan has actually caused more deaths than the Fukushima accident itself.
5Y0Qr TIL The person who wrote the lyrics for the second and third Soviet national anthems, Sergey Mikhalkov, also lived to write the lyrics for the current national anthem of Russia.
a1Xo TIL from a dictionary why the ancient Greek civilization of Sparta had no walls:“‘the Spartan king Agesilaus simply pointed to his fellow citizens, armed to the teeth, the most formidable soldiers in Greece: 'Here are the walls of the Spartans.’”
QJjGX TIL the present-day eastern edge of Tennessee was an autonomous territory named Franklin (or Frankland) that self-governed for 4 years. It applied to become the 14th US state, but dissolved after the vote failed in Congress.