› added 10 months ago

26

TIL the 7-Eleven convenience store's name dates to 1946, to reflect the stores' new 7 am to 11 pm hours of operation, which were unprecedented at the time.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

QJxvX TIL bees were declared as the most invaluable species on Earth at the Earthwatch debate. Five eminent scientists battled it out for fungi, bats, plankton, primates and bees
Z85PR TIL Sofia Vergara studied dentistry for 3 years and stopped 2 semesters before graduating as a dentist to pursue a career in modeling and show business.
WOvd TIL an Indian man named Jadav Payeng started planting trees on a barren sandbar at 17. He is now 47 and lives in his own 1360 acre forest which now houses rhinos, tigers, deers, apes and elephants.
rNEEM TIL about Soviet Zveno aircraft carrier planes. The converted bombers would carry fighters or dive bombers beyond their operational limitation, and launch them when needed. Despite being based on pre-WWII bombers and going through many configuration changes, they had a very high success rate.
1b5X TIL in 1856 Sir Andrew Waugh calculated the height of Mt. Everest to be exactly 29,000ft. However, he published the calculation of 29,002ft. due to the fear that the former would seem like nothing more than a rounded estimate. This makes him the first person to put two feet on top of Mt. Everest.