› added 7 years ago

215

TIL that the Battle of Jemappes happened today: French army beats Holy Roman Empire

Read more onthisday.com

via reddit.com

GA7GE TIL That the Hallway (as an architectural feature) was first recorded in 1597
VLrZ TIL the fast-paced style of speaking at auctions is unique to America yet nobody knows where/how it originated.
bPO4 TIL Alexander Graham Bell developed the metal detector as a last ditch effort to locate a bullet lodged in the chest of American President James Garfield in 1881; the attempt was unsuccessful because the metal coil spring bed Garfield was lying on confused the detector.
E1XVo TIL: the Vice President of the United States was determined by the 2nd most electoral votes (the runner up for presidential ticket). This stopped when Jefferson and Burr ran against each other (1800).
QJLXX TIL That someone tried to buy a Harrier jet from Pepsi for $700k dollars as a result of an ad that promoted the aircraft for 7 million Pepsi points