› added 10 years ago

81

TIL the first American spy satellites literally dropped their film from space in a “film bucket” that was then scooped up in midair by a plane

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

nJyP TIL At the height of WW1, a German-American miner was lynched by a hysterical anti-German mob in Illinois. The participants were all promptly acquitted by a jury, with the Washington Post stating that although the murder was bad, it was a ‘healthful and wholesome’ show of patriotism.
wy47 TIL Pluto is so far away, that not only has it still not completed a full orbit around the sun since its discovery in 1930, it’s barely completed a third of its orbit. It won’t complete its first full orbit until 2178.
bkNE TIL there is a fish that when eaten causes severe hallucinations lasting up to 36 hours. It was a party drug during the Roman Empire!
p7bZ TIL that Singapore (with a fertility rate of 0.79) held a “National Night” in 2012 designed to encourage couples to “create a population spurt” by “letting their patriotism explode!”
b97KE TIL Since 1973, more than 155 people have been released from death row thanks to evidence of their innocence.