› added 4 years ago

218

TIL that José Salvador Alvarenga, a Salvadoran fisherman was stranded at sea between 2012 and 2014. He survived mainly on a diet of raw fish, turtles, small birds, sharks and rainwater.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

QJN69 TIL of "soft despotism": a state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. It gives people the illusion that they are in control, when in fact they have very little influence over their government.
OoaPR TIL the word Hello became popular after Thomas Edison suggested its use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell, his competitor, preferred Ahoy.
Gl4J TIL the minimum wage for restaurant and bar workers in the USA is $2.13 per hour
gMXNA TIL that the city of Detroit sits on top of a working salt mine, and that the mine has provided road salt for most of North America since 1910.
VMENk TIL no symphony orchestra can ever make a profit on its own, even if it sold out tickets at every show. This is mainly because the show consists of 40-100 fully salaried members who only perform the same piece 2 or 3 times. Most orchestras rely heavily on donators to be profitable.