› added 12 years ago

241

TIL all teachers in North Korea in the 1990s were required to play the accordion–and that you needed to pass an accordion test before getting your teaching certification.

Read more books.google.com

via reddit.com

6EQMX TIL Solomon Northup, a free African American living in New York in the 1800s, was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the south. As a slave, he had no way to testify his case. He remained a slave for 12 years before finally being freed. He then wrote a memoir "Twelve Years A Slave".
VMXN8 TIL in the popcorn industry, two shapes of kernels are commercially important. "Butterfly" kernels are light and fluffy, their many appendages absorbing butter and salt well. "Mushroom" kernels are typically much sturdier then the butterfly ones, and are often used in making confectionery popcorn.
VMkd8 TIL during the Korean War, a British soldier led a series of grenade-hurling assaults against waves of Chinese soldiers attacking his post. When he ran out of grenades, he began hurling beer bottles, giving his unit enough time to retreat, and stood his ground until he ran out of things to throw.
D1lPv TIL about a French diplomat, Bernard Boursicot, who worked at the French embassy as an accountant in Beijing in 1964 who had a 20-year affair with a Chinese actress, who turned out to be both a spy and a man in drag. The diplomat claims not to have known that his lover was actually a man.
EjAo TIL the band Chumbawamba, mainly known for their ubiquitous hit “Tubthumping”, was actually a politically charged anarcho-punk band who once advised fans to steal their music out of chain stores.