delanceyplace.com

mxjwE TIL that after Mao Zhedong promised China's steel production would one day surpass England's and America's, many children born in 1958 and 1959 were named 'Chaoying' ('Surpass England') or 'Chaomei' ('Overtake America').
neE9o TIL that when America's first rocket scientist, Robert Goddard, theorized that rockets could reach the moon, the New York Times harshly criticized him and wrote that he "lacked the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." 49 years later, Apollo 11 succeeded and the NYT published a retraction.
b99ap TIL that Ulysses S. Grant was unwittingly a participant in a Ponzi scheme. He later was humiliated when he became a victim of of the same investment scandal.