› added 7 years ago

286

TIL in 1961 Bill Mitchell of GM ordered his team to paint a concept car to match the colors of a dead shark mounted in his office. Many attempts failed, so one night the team kidnapped the fish and painted it instead. Mitchell never found out and was happy with the team's duplication of nature.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

BgBKe TIL Canada's 12.9-kilometre Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island is not straight but deliberately curved to ensure that drivers remain attentive and reduce accidents. Confederation Bridge is projected to last for 100 years until 2097
OGQDg TIL During WWII the US Navy would convert two coal powered paddle-wheel steamships into the USS Wolverine and USS Sable, the only freshwater carriers ever created. Used for training on Lake Michigan, over 17,000 Navy pilots were certified on these vessels over the course of the war.
D1gxV TIL: A Prodigy named Taylor Wilson built a working nuclear reactor in a garage when he was just 14 years old.
5YQa9 TIL J.K. Rowling wrote to Natalie McDonald, a leukemia patient, the ending of The Goblet of Fire a year early. She died before reading the email so Rowling named a character after her. That character was sorted into Gryffindor.
0dGky TIL: That Sir Dickson Poon was married to actress Michelle Yeoh, was knighted for his service to business and charity, and also has the best name ever.