› added 13 years ago

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TIL that in 2000 the major motorcycle companies of the world reached a gentlemen’s agreement to end a speed war of one-upmanship to try make the worlds fastest production bike, as they feared speeds would escalate to extremely dangerous speeds before it would end. A limit of 300km/h was agreed

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rNKZd Today I learned that American couples only sleep with 1 duvet, large enough for the the two of them. And not separate ones. And they also have a weird thing called «top sheet»
WkL8L TIL in 1071, the Byzantine Emperor was captured in battle by the Great Seljuk Empire. The Emperor was brought to the Sultan, Alp Arslan, and told him that had he won, he likely would have had him executed. Alp Arslan replied "My punishment is far heavier. I forgive you, and set you free."
pYZkN TIL the 1975 Haicheng earthquake is widely considered the most successful example of earthquake prediction, with the city having been evacuated beforehand, resulting in few deaths. However, the prediction was only possible due to a special foreshock sequence, making it useless for future prediction.
dME7 TIL- When cranes (the bird) sleep, one bird acts as a sentry. The sentry holds stone in its claw so that if it falls asleep the stone will drop the stone and the sentry will wake.
Gow1 TIL there was a dial-up online gaming service for Sega Saturn that you accessed through a 28.8 modem cartridge that plugged into a phone line. There were no servers; to play against someone, your Sega called their Sega.