› added 1 year ago

97

TIL that US dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollar coins were minted in 90% silver until 1964, but this was changed to nickel and copper starting in 1965 because the price of silver had risen to a point where the coins were worth more in silver than their face value.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

X0e4X TIL that Capcom made a video game in about 1990 titled "The California Raisins: The Grape Escape", which went unreleased, despite being largely finished, due to the titular characters losing popularity, after there was a decline in raisin sales
rv7d TIL that John Glenn flew combat missions in WWII and Korea, became the first American to orbit the Earth, was present for the assassination of Robert Kennedy, served as Senator from Ohio, and, while still a senator, became the oldest person to fly in space at age 77.
Ja64 TIL that Mars Candy corp, makers of Snickers, Three Muskateers, Milky Way, Twix ect., cut the size of their candy bars by 11% this year. They referred to it not as cutting size but “cutting calories”
4VBN TIL, Ancient Greeks and Romans used asbestos to make fire retardant materials so they could be cleaned by throwing them into the fire. Pliny the Elder noted that people who had contact with asbestos-containing materials acquired “sickness of the lungs.”
BgVxK TIL that 1,235 Canadian geese were rounded up and gassed to death after the famous incident of pilot Chesley Sullenberger ditching a passenger plane on the Hudson River with no fatalities, following a bird strike.