› added 2 years ago

82

TIL that in the late 1920s, Henry Ford tried to build a town called Fordlandia in the Brazilian jungle for the purpose of supplying tire rubber. Designed to be inhabited by 10,000 people, the project totally failed from poor management, disease, worker unrest, and other factors.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

gAkL TIL During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England.
nWXyd TIL that the use of the term "ship" or "shipping" to refer to a fandom wanting two or more people, either real or fictional, to be in a romantic relationship originated from online fans of the X-Files in the 90s who believed that Fox Mulder and Dana Scully should get together
N8d1 TIL that, while filming an episode of a reality TV show in Doncaster prison, chef Gordon Ramsay was so impressed by the speed at which a prisoner chopped vegetables that Ramsay offered him a job at his restaurant following his release in 2007
a8Ee0 TIL that Oppenheimer Funds had a rule that if parents wanted their child to work at the fund they had to pay the child's first year salary out of pocket while other partners decided if they were worth hiring.
LkvJP TIL that in response to their manager complaining that they had no catchy summertime hit, Blink-182 responded "You want a fucking single? I'll write you the cheesiest, catchiest, throwaway fucking summertime single you've ever heard!" and released 'First Date,' which would become extremely popular.