› added 11 years ago

148

TIL the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 is known as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history and that it killed more people in 1 year than during the 4 years of the Black Plague. It was most deadly for people aged 20-40 and many died within hours of contracting the virus.

nW9xB TIL in 1997 Packers player Reggie White starred in a movie with Pat Morita called Reggie's Prayer about a retired football player who never won a Super Bowl. Cameos include Brett Favre, Mike Holmgren, The Big Show, and MC Hammer. The Packers won the Super Bowl two days after the movie's release.
aXMb TIL that while the U.S. was researching nuclear devices, there was a certain sphere of plutonium dubbed the “Demon Core,” as it went supercritical and killed two scientists on two different occasions as they were studying it.
4XO1a TIL the band Dream Theater has a set of 5 songs across 5 albums that each deal with drummer Mike Portnoy's struggle with alcoholism. They are known as the Twelve-step Suite because each song is about certain steps in the 12-step program.
5VgaR TIL A Mother discovers her son's bride is her long-lost DAUGHTER after she spots a birthmark on their wedding day (but the marriage goes ahead anyway because the groom had been adopted)
vaQ4 TIL King George V’s physician gave the dying king a lethal dosage of morphine and cocaine to hasten his death so that it could be announced in the morning edition of The Times rather than “less appropriate evening journals”