› added 4 years ago

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TIL that Australia's Constitution allows New Zealand to join as Australia's Seventh State.

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4Xj8o TIL The intensity of sound is measured in decibels (dB), the decibel scale is logarithmic. Basically a 40dB sound is not twice as loud as 20dB one, but a hundred times louder. Also one alarm clock ringing at 70dB, two alarm clocks ringing together don’t hit 140dB on scale but measure 73dB.
9wO7r TIL that 2 million discarded tires were deliberately dumped off the coast of Florida in the 1970’s, with the intent to stimulate growth of new coral reefs. Instead, the tires ended up killing off nearby reefs. The tires are still causing damage today.
nellB TIL in medieval manuscripts there are many depictions of knights fighting giant snails. There's no solid reason why.
wLX81 TIL during the first combat usage of the American Sidewinder missile in 1958, a dud hit an enemy plane and became lodged without exploding. The pilot returned to base, allowing Soviet engineers to study it and reverse-engineer a nearly identical missile for their own use.
R7jv8 TIL As a defensive measure Israel installed an underwater pipe system to pump flammable crude oil into the Suez Canal, thereby creating a sheet of flame. On the eve of the Yom Kippur War, teams of Egyptian frogmen blocked the underwater openings with concrete before launching their attack