› added 9 years ago

252

TIL that McDonald’s faced controversy when they opened their first stores in the U.K. Applicants were asked if they wished to contribute money to an I.R.A. McDonald’s was referring to an Individual Retirement Account, but the public assumed they meant the Irish Republican Army.

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bbKj TIL famous playwright Henrik Ibsen, after overhearing his nurse assure a visitor he was doing better, spluttered his last words, “On the contrary!”
MekWm TIL Andorra is ruled by two Co-princes, the President of France and the Bishop of Urdell. Up until 1993, Andorra would pay a tribute of ~$460 to the French President on odd numbered years, while on even numbered years, the Bishop would receive ~$12, plus six hams, six cheeses, and six live chickens.
egZg TIL that in 2011 the head of the American College of Surgeons was forced to resign after he wrote a Valentine’s Day editorial touting the mood-enhancing effects of semen on women during unprotected sex, which was completely supported by the research he cited in said editorial.
AkKd TIL that in 1989-1990 the Belgian Air Force successfully got two missile locks on a UFO, only to be outmaneuvered. The object accelerated from 240 km/h (150 mph) to 1100 km/h (683 mph) almost instantly, descending 900 m (half a mile) in less than 2 seconds, something that would kill a human pilot.
loew7 TIL At the end of WW1 in 1918, when revolutionaries toppled the monarchy all across Germany, King Friedrich August III of Saxony was asked by phone if he would like to abdicate willingly. He just replied "Oh, well, I suppose I'd better" and thus Saxony became a republic.