› added 12 years ago

124

TIL that the American Gothic painting by Grant Wood is not husband/wife, but father/daughter.

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b68gN TIL the chili pepper is native to Central and South America. It did not exist in any European, African, or Asian cuisine until the Europeans brought it back from the Americas in the 16th century.
5E4D TIL that 140 years after an ancient stolen ring was found on a rural farm, a tablet was found at another site (“Among those who bear the name of Senicianus to none grant health until he bring back the ring to the temple of Nodens”). One of the scholars who translated it: Oxford prof. J R R Tolkien
Z8mwo TIL Canada didn't become fully independent from the UK until 1982
w0vo TIL bananas have more trade regulations than AK-47s
da79 TIL in 1947, a British South American Airways flight was flying normally over the Andes Mnts., 4 minutes from landing, but then it sent a morse code message ‘STENDEC’ three consecutive times, then vanished, the wreckage not to be found for 50 years. To this day, what 'STENDEC’ meant is a mystery.