› added 2 years ago

100

TIL that New Orleans chicory coffee mix started during the American Civil War when Union naval blockades cut off the port of New Orleans bringing coffee shipments to a halt. New Orleanians looking for their coffee fix began mixing chicory with coffee to stretch out the supply.

Read more smithsonianmag.com

via reddit.com

dDyZd TIL that the first Coachella Music Festival was held in 1999. It was inspired by a 1993 Pearl Jam concert. Pearl Jam's lead singer, Eddie Vedder, led the band to boycott venues controlled by Ticketmaster and perform at the Empire Polo Club grounds instead.
oRJXr TIL that small black holes are more violent than supermassive ones: the tidal forces at the event horizon gets substantially weaker the larger the black hole—you can theoretically survive a trip beyond the point of no return without being crushed
gxjy TIL British gunboats were having problems being lit on fire during World War II, so they designed a special diesel engine with the cylinders in a DELTA configuration. The engine worked so well, it is still in service 70 years later, and is half the size of its competitors. But just a 5th the weight.
5VGER TIL that in 1976 the argentinian dictatorship kidnapped two french nuns who where helping families of dissappeared dissidents. They were held captive and thrown to the sea by plane. The dictators joke about them as being "the flying nuns" making reference to the american sitcom starring Sally Field
e0d0D TIL Long necked dinosaurs necks probably extended out and swept side to side to graze, rather than extending high in the air like they are typically portrayed.