› added 1 year ago

92

TIL that Jesse James stole a gold shipment from America's transcontinental railroad in 1873. A Chinese student wrote "nothing occurred on our Eastward journey to mar the enjoyment ... excepting a train robbery, a consequent smashup of the engine, and the murder of the engineer".

Read more yalealumnimagazine.com

via reddit.com

69bN8 TIL Mark Twain in "The United States of Lyncherdom", asserts "moral cowardice" is "the commanding feature of the make-up of 9,999 men in the 10,000" and "no revolt against a public infamy or oppression has ever been begun but by the one daring man". Twain felt the States were not ready for essay.
ADdDB TIL Indium the element was not named for India, but for indigo the color. The spectrum of indium has a bright emission line at 451 nm and happened to correspond with one of Isaac Newton's rainbow colors.
mxo9p TIL that when the Rolling Stones were forced to make another single to fulfill their contract, they recorded a vulgar song known as "Cocksucker Blues." In retaliation, their former label released an album of the band's greatest hits - despite the Stone's renunciation, it hit top 10 on UK charts
WkX84 TIL of Gad Beck, a Jew who borrowed a neighbour’s Hitler Youth uniform in 1942 and snuck into a pre-deportation camp to rescue his lover, Manfred Lewin. He got Lewin released by lying to the camps CO. Outside, Lewin said he couldn’t abandon his family and went back. Lewin and his family all died.
GYE81 TIL Koalas sleep 18-22 hours a day due to the daily strain on their system to digest toxic Eucalyptus