› added 8 months ago

28

TIL that in the early 2000s, a US nuclear submarine, "Greenville" had catastropically collided with a japanse high school training vessel. During a VIP demonstration voyage, after performing an emergency surfacing - the submarine sliced the training vessel in half.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

GYQOj TIL In 1920, the New York Times published an editorial titled "A Severe Strain on Credulity," mocking scientist Robert Goddard's contention that a rocket could conceivably leave the atmosphere and even reach the moon. They later printed a retraction, the day after the launch of Apollo 11.
Rjl1 TIL: Decorative Five Pointed metal stars–Barnstars–derived from Amish barn-painted symbols or “Hex Signs”, which were borrowed from witchcraft / Germanic paganism as magical protection against misfortune
Z8V5p TIL a Curaçao woman rescued a flamingo that crashed into a window, nursing it back to health, and after realizing she couldn't release it back to the wild, made it an ambassador for his species, visiting schools with her to teach children about island wildlife and the importance of conservation.
16pbd TIL about Danish Pålægschokolade, which translates to “chocolate to put on bread”. They are thin slices of chocolate that are used as a topping on bread, such as rye or white bread, similar to how chocolate spread is used in many countries.
BgJWW TIL that despite homosexual activity being punishable by death in the country, Iran allows gender reassignment surgery, and performs more of them than any country except Thailand. In 2005 they did 7 times as many as all of the EU combined.