› added 3 months ago

12

TIL boxing legend Evander Holyfield lost almost every cent of the estimated $200m (AU$320m) he earned during his career through reckless spending, bad business deals & "even worse" financial advice. As of 2019, he earned up to $106K/month through personal appearances, but was still "basically broke"

89oX TIL starlings exist in North America because one guy wanted to introduce all the birds mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare.
4Ejg TIL in 1961 a B-52 broke up over Goldsboro, NC dropping two 3.8MT H-bombs, each exceeding the yield of all detonations in worldwide history by TNT, gunpowder, conv. bombs, and the WWII nuclear blasts combined. One came perilously close to detonating and creating “a very large Bay of North Carolina.“
p8YgA TIL that the German grocery store Aldi is actually two stores: Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud. In the US, Aldi Sud has been rebranded as Aldi, and Aldi Nord is what we now know as Trader Joe's.
WklBY TIL Empress Catherine the Great had an intimate relationship with philosopher Dennis Diderot. They had daily meetings talking politics and philosophy during which Diderot would make his points by slapping the monarch's thighs. She emerged from their meeting with her thighs "bruised and quite black"
69oaY TIL that legendary race driver Ken Miles -- played by Christian Bale in "Ford vs. Ferrari" -- designed a race track, but it was so dangerous it closed after only 7 races. During the last meet in December 1957, two drivers were killed and another lost a leg.