› added 9 years ago

82

TIL “Great Scott” may have referred to US General Winfield Scott, who at 6'5" remains the tallest man to receive a US presidential nomination

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b6v87 TIL about Tote'm Stores, a convenience store in Dallas, TX, where customers "toted" away their purchases. In 1946, their hours were extended to 7am-11pm, and their name changed to reflect the new hours: 7-Eleven.
LkKa0 TIL during the early years of the Tour de France, guzzling alarming amounts of alcohol was the norm. Beer, wine, and brandy were considered safer to drink than water from questionable roadside wells or springs, and cyclists drank copiously.
RKl9 TIL that while most humans have three types of cone cells in their eyes, there are known cases where people have four, widening the spectrum and exactness of colors they can see. There are also cases where people lack a blocking lens, enabling them to see ultraviolet light.
WknZ4 TIL during the Dust Bowl, the US government launched dynamite into the sky in order to provoke clouds into producing rain
rN5l0 TIL: About the TF2 Coconut which is a highly detailed JPEG of a coconut in Team Fortress 2 game files. Despite being unused anywhere within the game, deleting it from the computer breaks the game.