› added 1 year ago

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TIL Ben Franklin trolled rival almanac publisher Titan Leeds by predicting Leeds' death, down to the hour, in his Poor Richard's Almanac.

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4yk6 TIL many dinosaurs thought to be different species are really the same creatures at different distinct stages of development.
bNyE TIL that spiders use fluid movement/hydraulics to “push” their legs forward. They lack the muscles to do so normally and use fluid pressure to do so. This is also why their legs curl up when they die and if their body gets punctured, their body “deflates” and is rendered useless.
MeDyA TIL about the trials for Rocket Mail. Since 1810 inventors have tried to deliver mail via artillery, and later rockets. In 1959 the US navy fired a cruise missile filled with mail from a submarine to a Naval base in Florida. Despite enthousiasm by the Postmaster General it was a one time thing.
X0VAX TIL The first email was sent by a young engineer named Ray Tomlinson to himself in 1971. He was simply "fooling around" for something to do with ARPANET - a network that connects various research organizations in United States. That curiosity led to his induction to Internet Hall of Fame on 2012.
5YGln TIL that there was a short-lived republic called the Great Republic of Rough and Ready, only created because of the citizens not wanting to pay mining taxes, but voted to rejoin the US on July 4th/ Independence Day.