› added 11 years ago

128

TIL that the Smithsonian was created from a donation of a wealthy Englishman that had never once set foot on American soil - and he also never wrote about or discussed the motives for this bequest.

Read more si.edu

via reddit.com

pQ7Q TIL that, in response to Brown vs. Board of Education, Prince Edward County, Virginia closed all public schools for 5 years rather than integrate them
9YWM6 TIL Today China is experiencing piano frenzy with an estimated 40m children now learning to play. The instrument is increasingly in vogue among China’s burgeoning middle classes, who have the money to splurge on steep lessons and expensive fixtures. For many, owning a Steinway is a status symbol
6Ee5w TIL that trees talk to each other, except cedar trees, they're antisocial.
Oov1L TIL that at the Battle of Tsushima the ratio of Russian sailors killed to Japanese was roughly 50:1
69Eb7 TIL the story of Jonathan Daniels, a minister who saved the life of a civil rights activist by shielding her from a shotgun wielding man. He was killed instantly when the shotgun was fired.