Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

Thatsaclevername t1_j9gofgw wrote

Reply to TIL of Macadam roads. These roads were convex, raised a few inches, and made of layered crushed rock; they were state-of-the-art for the 19th century. The rise of automobiles led to the dust issues that were solved by binding the roads with tar, leading to the invention of tarmac. by jamescookenotthatone

Most roads are still built this way, your top level of asphalt pavement is only a few inches thick and then will have some manufactured gravel under that to maintain stability. That's where most of your strength comes from, the gravel under the pavement. They're also "crowned", as the OP discussed, to allow drainage of water.

Crushed rock and the science behind it, which is also the science of roadways and pavement, is super neat and one of those "I didn't know it was that complicated" things that people use day to day.

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becoming_a_crone t1_j9glblz wrote

Reply to comment by 1945BestYear in TIL that Milton Bradley originally had been in the business of selling pictures of celebrities. After his biggest seller Abraham Lincoln grew his iconic beard and rendered his entire stock of lithographs worthless and had customers demanding their money back, MB switched to selling board games by Loki-L

Or someone wanting to send a confidential message via fax machine, so they put it in an envelope and faxed it like that.

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dudewiththebling t1_j9gjk74 wrote

Reply to comment by jamescookenotthatone in TIL of Macadam roads. These roads were convex, raised a few inches, and made of layered crushed rock; they were state-of-the-art for the 19th century. The rise of automobiles led to the dust issues that were solved by binding the roads with tar, leading to the invention of tarmac. by jamescookenotthatone

I guess those workers had a higher bodily mineral content than the average person

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madery t1_j9gj0pv wrote

Reply to comment by mrsc1880 in TIL of Macadam roads. These roads were convex, raised a few inches, and made of layered crushed rock; they were state-of-the-art for the 19th century. The rise of automobiles led to the dust issues that were solved by binding the roads with tar, leading to the invention of tarmac. by jamescookenotthatone

In Belgium we do the same. The original roads were asphalted over but still referred to as macadam

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testhec10ck OP t1_j9givct wrote

Reply to comment by Unleashtheducks in TIL with Scallops, only the abductor muscle is eaten by humans. The rest of the meat, which is edible, may contain a buildup of toxins, and is discarded at sea. by testhec10ck

Yes, let’s assume 98% are edible (no toxins). For about 2%, there may be a build up of toxins. But since there’s no cost effective way to track or trace, so we toss everything, including the edible ones.

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