› added 12 years ago

191

TIL you could swim in a spent nuclear fuel pool without being harmed

Read more what-if.xkcd.com

via reddit.com

oRNAK TIL the Black Death was partially caused by a mass execution of cats due to supposed association with the Devil, allowing rats and their fleas to rapidly spread.
wLEQ7 TIL: In 1976, the Chicago Sun-Times bought a bar so they could expose the corruption of city inspectors extracting bribes from local businesses.
XXpR TIL General Douglas MacArthur earned seven Silver Stars in WWI, vomited on the White House steps, wore a kimono while working at home as Army Chief of Staff, was awarded the very first Purple Heart, was Father of the Year in 1942, and told JFK to not get involved in Vietnam
dn4r TIL A women by the name of Barbara Puc, one of 3,000 babies born at Auschwitz, survived and is still alive today at the age of 72.
E1ldP TIL that the Lorem Ipsum template is a more than 2000 years old patchy copy of emperor Cicero's philosophical reflections on pain and pleasure (and that this was only (re)discovered in 1994).