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TIL There is an ISO standard for brewing a cup of tea. Ireland objected to it

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WkMbY TIL in 1962 two US scientists discovered Peru's highest mountain was in danger of collapsing. When this was made public, the government threatened the scientists and banned civilians from speaking of it. In 1970, during a major earthquake, it collapsed on the town of Yangoy killing 20,000.
nWek7 TIL palimpsest are texts which have been scrapped to be reused. In the Middle Age, due to the scarcity of parchment (made from animal skins), older manuscripts were reused this way
mxAaP TIL that the SR-71 Blackbird was so fast that, if a missile was fired at it, the pilot would simply accelerate and outrun the missile.
KYNW6 TIL The only known naturally occuring nuclear fission reactor was discovered in Oklo, Gabon and is thought to have been active 1.7 billion years ago. This discovery in 1972 was made after chemists noticed a significant reduction in fissionable U-235 within the ore coming from the Gabonese mine.
woZdJ TIL In 2023, National Geographic Magazine cut 17 editorial positions, including all of the publication’s staff writers, and editors who has been on staff for 40 years. The magazine still had more than 1.7 million subscribers at the end of 2022