› added 11 years ago

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TIL the makers of Sesame Street release a statement saying Bert and Ernie aren’t getting married, and don’t have any sexual orientation. Because they’re puppets.

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via reddit.com

8ajlG TIL that the term "Big Bertha" comes from Bertha Krupp, the sole owner of the company who manufactured the popular German WW1 "big bertha" siege howitzer cannon.
v5nK TIL that in 1897, an internal Western Union memo said that “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication”.
Zv0p TIL that Blue whales are among the loudest animals on the planet, and might hear each other up to 1,000 miles away.
b5rj TIL. Russia implemented prohibition for 11 years, from 1914 to 1925. The ban was enacted even though roughly 1/3 of the government’s entire revenue came through the sale of vodka. It was called “…the single greatest act of national heroism. ”
xl67 TIL that in 1310, a Mali ruler called Abu Bakr II tried to cross the Atlantic Ocean with 400 ships. Only 1 ship who refused to follow him made it back