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TIL that having a small amount of insulation on a cylinder (like a pipe or water heater) can actually make it lose heat faster than if it were entirely uninsulated. This is known as the critical thickness of insulation. Having more than the critical thickness makes the heat transfer rate go down.

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awBJ9 TIL that standard calorie counts for foods ignore the effect of cooking, and cooked food has significantly more effective calories because it's more easily digested.
gJY8 TIL a rat can squeeze through holes or gaps the size of a quarter because its skull is not plated together, so it can change the shape of its head and squeeze through a very small opening. They are able to leap 4 feet laterally, can fall 5 floors without any injuries, and tread water for 3 days.
697W7 TIL that after Zaire, now known as DR Congo, lost all their matches at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the players were forbidden to leave their home country, so that they couldn't play for European clubs with the offers that came in after the World Cup
14md TIL that between 1992-1996, members of the Norwegian Black Metal scene began a string of arson, burning at least 50 churches as a symbolic retaliation against Christianity in Norway.
Brm6D TIL exactly 57 years ago, JFK gave his Ich bin ein Berliner ("I am a Berliner") speech in the backdrop of the Berlin Wall. “Freedom has many difficulties, and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.”