› added 4 years ago

159

TIL that there are approximately 80 hippos in Columbia. This is because Pablo Escobar had 4 imported from America in 1981 for his own private collection. The hippos escaped and have now shade what is believed to be a positive impact on Columbian river ecosystems.

PYeEZ TIL that the current CEO of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, is the great grandson of Sakichi Toyoda, who is known as the father of the Japanese Industrial Revolution thanks to his invention of the power loom that implemented the principle of Jidoka, meaning the machine stops itself when a problem occurs.
VM9y0 TIL in the Catholic church, if a child is in peril of dying during delivery, the midwife may perform an emergency baptism. If the midwife is in doubt if the child still lives, she baptises the child saying: "In case you are able to receive the baptism, I baptise thee in the name of the Father etc"
4jBg TIL in 2015, funk band Vulfpeck took advantage of Spotify’s payment system and released a 5 minute album consisting of just silence called “Sleepify”, told their fans to listen to it on repeat while they slept, and ended up making $20k which funded future album releases and tours.
ANo1o TIL that the youngest person ever executed was 9-year old John Dean in 1629, who was accused of setting fire to two barns/houses in the nearby town of Windsor and was subsequently indicted, arraigned, and convicted on the same day, and was "hanged accordingly".
n5wb TIL that the Simpsons were doing Butterfinger commercials a year before the show started, and that Milhouse originated in the second commercial.