› added 5 months ago

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TIL - Trebuchets are actually just a classification of catapult and no definition of catapult specifies how any particular design is meant to store or release potential energy, meaning it's never wrong to call a trebuchet a catapult.

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via reddit.com

Y7yaP TIL of Tanis, a dinosaur fossil site in North Dakota. Although controversial over its private management by paleontologist Robert DePalma, it's regardless noteworthy for preserving in detail the immediate aftermath of the extinction-causing asteroid impact on dinosaurs in the area.
l89r TIL that there is a giant water vapor cloud in the middle of the cosmos that is 12 billion light-years away, is 100,000 times larger than the sun, and holds about 140 trillion times more water than all of Earth’s oceans.
JxBl TIL although “The Dark Side of the Moon” was the #1 album for only one week, it remained on the Billboard top 200 for 741 weeks straight, from 1973 to 1988.
epjd5 TIL that authorities in the historic English town of Chester were so concerned about the erosion of the city’s Roman walls and monuments by public urination that they introduced a “walk of shame” for offenders, where they were taken on a tour to inspect the damage caused by public peeing.
awanZ TIL about the Quadro Tracker, a metal antenna hinged to a hollow plastic handle bought by police in the 90s for $400-$8000/unit. The manufacturer claimed the antenna would swivel to point towards a sought object or person. The fraud was exposed in 1996 and the company executives acquitted in 1997.