› added 5 years ago

76

TIL that Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago with a population of 3 000, is the only visa-free zone in the world meaning that anybody may live and work there indefinitely regardless of country of citizenship.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

aMgb TIL that the original pledge of allegiance was written in 1892. It read: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and Justice for all.” Many phrases were added throughout the years, with the last phrase (“under God”) added in 1954.
jN5Dp TIL the earliest recorded use of LOL as an initialism was for "little old lady" in the 1960s. During the Apollo mission, ferrite cores were used as transformers and acted as either a binary one or zero. The LOLs created the required software by weaving together sequences of one and zero cores.
4jDR TIL that starting in the 1820s gentlemen wore trousers so high-waisted that belts wouldn’t work anymore, which gave birth to suspenders
LQj7d TIL that Jeffrey Hudson, a court dwarf of the English Queen Henrietta Maria, shot a man in a duel, after which he went into exile, was captured by Barbary pirates, spent 25 years enslaved in North Africa during which he grew 25 inches, which he attributed to the hard conditions.
OZY7 TIL that Roy Sullivan is the record holder for most survived lightning strikes. He was struck in a fire lookout tower, in his truck, in his front yard, in a ranger station, twice while driving away from the storm, and immediately after the seventh strike he fought off a bear with a tree branch.