› added 10 years ago

237

TIL there is a monument to Wikipedia in Poland.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

AN9Xn TIL During World War II, Nazi Germany planned to cripple the U.S. war effort by attacking the Pennsylvania Railroad's four-track mainline at Horseshoe Curve. The agents came over by U-Boat, but were stopped by the FBI. Had it succeeded, U.S. supply lines to Europe could have been badly disrupted.
p8MdQ TIL that the world premiere of Handel's Messiah sold so many tickets that the audience was asked to leave their swords and hooped skirts at home. Jonathan Swift thought it the piece was blasphemous and threatened to publicly forbid singers from St. Patrick’s Cathedral from participating.
70pP TIL in 1959, a segregationist school board shuttered its district rather than allow black students; whites took school vouchers and attended a local private academy (which did not integrate until 1986)
EgEjx TIL ⚡ Lightning bolts can indeed produce 1.21 gigawatts needed to power the DeLorean in Back to the Future
4jvX TIL that words that are similar to (either in sound or meaning) but are not quite profanities (ie. frickin’) are called “minced oaths.”