› added 11 years ago

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TIL that in the 1960s there was an attempt to let humans travel via pneumatic tube (the Jetsons, Futurama, items sent in old timey office buildings) and was estimated to allow travel at 388 mph. It was scrapped due to cost.

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QY7e TIL that George Washington originally declined a presidential salary however he ultimately accepted the payment to avoid setting a precedent whereby the presidency would be perceived as limited only to independently wealthy individuals who could serve without any salary.
kOwQd TIL Winnie-the-Pooh was a real bear. A veterinarian purchased a black bear cub from a hunter on his way to WWI. He named her Winnie for his hometown Winnipeg. Before shipping off to the front, he left her at the London Zoo, where she caught the affection of Christopher Robin, author A.A.Milne's son.
aer9 TIL that during the Drew Carey Show, Craig Ferguson played the character Mr. Wick with an over-the-top posh English accent “to make up for generations of English actors doing crap Scottish accents”.
Ool0g TIL there is a building in Dubai called the Torch that caught fire three times between 2015 and 2019.
woZE8 TIL the Babylonians used base 60 instead of base 10 for their mathematical calculations. This is why we have 60 seconds in a minute and 360 degrees in a circle.