› added 4 months ago

26

TIL 18th Century Norwegian swashbuckler Peter Tordenskjold once ran out of ammo during a sea battle so he sent his enemy a letter thanking him for "a fine duel" and asking him to send more ammo so they could carry on. The two crews then toasted each other's health and went their separate ways.

m1pwv TIL of Bess Myerson who was the first Miss America, to be Jewish, in 1945. Reactions to her win were mixed, while Jews hailed her a hero and compared her to Queen Esther, 3 out of the 5 sponsors of Miss America refused to have her represent them. She later became a politician
7g77 TIL after a Groom forgot his wedding pants in the dressing room of a Minnesota clothier and flew to Costa Rica for his wedding, the Clothier sent his daughter on an 11-hour flight to deliver the pants personally because UPS and FedEx said they could not help.
dDxWQ TIL In 1974, President Idi Amin of Uganda sat atop a throne while forcing four white British businessmen to carry him through the streets of Kampala; as the businessmen groaned under the weight of Amin, he joked that this was "the new white man's burden".
VM8P8 TIL during the Cold War, there was a plan in which the Americans would drop extra-large condoms labeled 'medium' all over the Soviet army so that they would think that all American men had huge penises and they would feel inferior and quit. However it was never executed
ep6bD TIL on January 31, 1977 Evel Knievel jumped a tank full of sharks; Fonzie didn't jump the shark until September of the same year