› added 5 years ago

48

TIL Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was first published as a giveaway for the department store Montgomery Ward in 1939. The story was initially rejected because, in 1930s pop culture, a bright red nose was closely associated with chronic alcoholism and drunkards.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

gMRp9 Today I learned about Thorcon, an energy company that is partnering with the Indonesian government to set up Thorium power plants that produce just as much as coal plants and cost less, as well as having no risk of meltdown, all the while being mass-produceable.
Z8wwv TIL that Mr Rodgers influenced the Supreme Court to allow the recording of TV shows, arguing that it allows parents to become “much more active in the programming of their family’s television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others.”
R7ol7 TIL that a black cemetery in Florida disappeared 100 years ago. The local newspaper started looking for it and through old documents learned that maybe a public housing complex had been built over it. An archaeologist used ground-penetrating radar to see what was in the ground. He found 120 coffins.
vwKD TIL a serial killer called the Grim Sleeper killed at least ten women from 1985-2007; the LAPD knew of the string of murders but did not find them urgent because the crimes were classified as NHI - “No Human Involved”
pGeN TIL the saxaphone was banned in Nazi Germany for being too sexy.