› added 4 years ago

90

TIL in 1886, the Germans sent a mission to Chile to help train and modernise the Chilean army. As a result of the Germans overhaul of their army, the ceremonial uniforms, weapons and marching songs are all German or German based, and military parades look like a step into Germany 150 years ago.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

VMePZ TIL according to Māori legend, Split Apple Rock in New Zealand's Abel Tasman National Park, was split by two gods fighting to possess it. They broke it in half to compromise. Scientists believe that water seeped into a rock crevice and froze during an ice age, expanding and thus splitting the stone.
P18pe TIL that reinforced concrete became popular after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The subsequent fire destroyed much of the city, but those built with reinforced concrete made it "through the ordeal unscathed, where buildings of brick and stone in their immediate vicinity were entirely wrecked."
R4Gw TIL In 1906, after 2 years of digging the Hudson River Tunnel, workers for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company connected Manhattan’s West Side with Weehawken, NJ. They met in the middle of the Hudson, completing the tunnel, and the two ends were only off by 1/16 of an inch.
rNLJy TIL Festivus was a holiday created and celebrated by Seinfeld writer Dan O'Keefe's family as far back as 1966. In the O'Keefe family, there was no Festivus pole, but a Festivus clock that was nailed to a wall. When Dan asked his father, "Why a clock?", his father said "That's not for you to know"
JY5Pm TIL n June 2006, at the request of PETA, Ocean Spray agreed to end its support for animal experiments. Previously, Ocean Spray was funding tests involving infecting mice with H. pylori, bacteria that cause stomach ulcers, and then feeding them cranberry juice to see if it had any positive effect.