› added 7 years ago

100

TIL China was the first country in the world to produce steel preceding Europe by over 1000 years but failed to reach an industrial revolution due to the absence of a middle class

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

l8jK TIL that a lightning bolt is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun
BrlLk TIL leaving cookies and milk for Santa started to become popular in the U.S during the Great Depression. Parents wanted to teach their kids it was better to give and to be grateful for presents they received during times of economic hardship.
694gX TIL that the literacy rate in Massachusetts was higher in colonial times than it is today.
16M9V TIL of the submarine USS Tang. It was hit when it's own torpedo boomeranged. 89 crew with 29 trapped. 13 made it out through a hatch but only 9 made to the surface where they were picked up by the Japanese and taken to a POW camp. They survived the war.
ne6b7 Today I learned Disney World in Orlando has a Mosquito Surveillance Program.