› added 5 years ago

145

TIL that aluminium in its purest form was so rare in the 19th century, it was more valuable than gold.

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5YL8 TIL the word “frenemies” dates as far back as 1953, when it appeared in print referring to US/Soviet relations.
4XZog TIL There's a theory that John Wilkes Booth wasn't killed after assassinating Abraham Lincoln, but that he actually escaped and lived under a pseudonyms for 38 more years -- and that his mummified body toured the country for decades after his true death in 1903.
awPd0 TIL that The Ancient Egyptians believed that the false door was a threshold between the worlds of the living and the dead and through which a deity or the spirit of the deceased could enter and exit.
ner1d TIL of the White Horse Tavern in Newport, RI. It was opened in 1673 and is currently the oldest operating bar/restaurant in the United States.
4Xjnw TIL that when things didn't go well for film directors (for a variety of reasons) they could choose to "disown" the project and simply dump the credit onto a fictional director named "Alan Smithee". "Alan Smithee" currently has over two dozen projects attached to his name on IMDb.