› added 7 years ago

235

TIL that in the 60s, a small town in New Mexico built an underground elementary school capable of withstanding a 20-megaton nuclear blast.

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16xD8 TIL about the Siège D'Amour (Love Chair). A chair designed and built by French furniture manufacturer Soubrier to allow the corpulent British King Edward VII to have sex with two women simultaneously while protecting them from being crushed by his weight.
MZgB TIL That the during the official opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932 a man on horseback cut the ribbon with his sword, upstaging the senior politician who was supposed to cut it.
w8QP TIL that John Candy was so beloved that when his funeral procession headed to the cemetery on the 405 freeway, the LAPD decided to station officers at on-ramps to hold all traffic. The only other times this happened was for presidential motorcades or when the Pope visited Los Angeles.
nW6Go TIL that Ethiopian clocks are upside down and their days begin at 7:00 A.M. instead of 12:00 A.M. Also, their years consist of 13 months.
woXe8 TIL in the 1970s, France acted as Saddam Hussein's "chief arms broker"; they sold $25billion in weapons to Iraq of which most was advanced fighters and missiles (close to $100bil in today's money)