› added 4 years ago

92

TIL that geysers are quite rare natural phenomena on Earth, and apart from the famous Yellowstone National Park, the United States also once had 2 more significant geyser fields in Nevada that were each destroyed by geothermal electricity companies in the 1960s and 80s.

oB4Yo TIL soon after US President Andrew Jackson was elected, he was given a 630kg (1,400lb) block of cheese from Oswego(NY). Jackson kept this cheese in the White House for his entire term, leaving the home smelling of 4 year old cheese for months after he was replaced by Martin Van Buren in 1837.
ZpvKG TIL that jesters were tasked with delivering unfavorable news to kings that others were reluctant to share. in 1340 following the destruction of the French fleet by the English the French King's jester informed him that the English sailors lacked the courage to jump into the water like the French.
JYmol TIL there is a town in New Mexico named "Truth or Consequences". They changed it from "Hot Springs" in 1950 to win a radio contest.
PYx7L TIL during the South Pacific WWII campaign, the Japanese constructed a heavily fortified stronghold with 110,000 troops at Rabaul near Papua New Guinea. The Allies chose to isolate Rabaul and press on, leaving the Japanese stranded and all its fortifications wasted.
yQ70w TIL Humans in the year 2020 are closer in time to a Tyrannosaurus Rex than Tyrannosaurus Rex is to a Stegosaurus. T-Rex lived in the late Cretaceous period ~68 million years ago. Stegosaurus lived in the Late Jurassic period ~155 million years ago.