› added 1 month ago

5

TIL that the modern standard keyboard layout, QWERTY, was NOT designed to slow typists down but rather to prevent the mechanical typewriters from jamming.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9wLar TIL: At the time of the French Revolution the majority of people in France did not speak French.
j61YQ TIL the hymn 'Amazing Grace' was written by an ex-slave ship captain and slave trader. After finding Christianity later in life he turned his back on the trade and became a prominent supporter of abolitionism. He was also held as a slave himself before escaping.
J5KQ TIL In 1964, Gary Flandromwas tasked with studying techniques for exploring the outer planets. He discovered that a rare alignment of the outer planets would occur in the late 70’s and came up with the Planetary Grand Tour which allowed for the Voyager program to happen.
a84d9 TIL that “Casablanca” was banned in Ireland upon release because its negative depictions of Nazis jeopardized Irish neutrality. When it was first released in Germany in 1952, it was 25 minutes shorter because it removed all references to Nazis and WWII.
QJYpk TIL in the 1st century AD two major Talmudic schools had a debate over whether mankind would've been better off having been born or not having been born. After two and a half years of argument, votes were counted and the side defending birth lost