› added 4 years ago

212

TIL that there are whales over 250 years old. For comparison, “Moby Dick” is 168 years old.

Read more telegraph.co.uk

via reddit.com

a84GN TIL that Francis Scott Key was the lead prosecutor in the first sedition trial in the U.S. Key charged Reuben Crandall for publishing abolitionist pamphlets deemed rebellious and persuaded the judge not to grant bail. Crandall was acquitted but died shortly after contracting tuberculosis in prison.
rR0vx TIL that between 1949 and 1952, the national anthem of West Germany was “Ich hab' mich ergeben”, which translates to “I surrender”
Ookgg TIL during the Revolutionary War the smallpox epidemic threatened the troops of G. Washington so badly he forbade inoculating troops fearing that doing so would make too many sick and leave the army without sufficient strength. Washington himself had been exposed when young making him immune.
lN7V TIL that in the 1880s, a South African railroad employed a baboon as a railway signalman, paying him 20 cents a day and a half bottle of beer a week. He made no mistakes in 9 years.
kJAJ4 TIL William Henry Harrison, the US president with the shortest tenure (31 days) also had the longest inauguration speech (2 hours). This means 0.2% of his presidency was devoted to his inauguration speech, an unparalled ratio