› added 3 months ago

106

TIL in 1845 a suspension bridge crowded with children collapsed under their weight killing 79. They had gathered to watch a clown in a barrel being pulled by geese down the river.

Read more bbc.com

via reddit.com

b9DY9 TIL the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is both a bridge and a tunnel. Considered one of the 7 wonders of modern engineering, it was completed in 1964 and is 23 miles long.
9wVGB TIL Venice has bridges that were designated as "fighting bridges", where rival clans would exchange fists and try to throw each other into the canal.
1aWWD TIL Anthony Bourdain at times wouldn't name the places he'd visit while filming. He did this sometimes to prevent tourists from turning a bar or restaurant into a tourist trap after filming there.
VgZm TIL a football player went to prison for five years on a phony rape charge. Upon his release she approached him saying “‘I will go through with helping you but it’s like at the same time all that money they gave [me] I don’t want to have to pay it back”
4XmPJ TIL that Maria Theresa of Austria had her children inoculated against smallpox after the epidemic of 1767. This changed the negative perception of inoculation among Austrian physicians. Maria Theresa also held a dinner in her palace for the first 65 children who had been inoculated in Austria.