› added 1 year ago

45

TIL about the Straw Hat Riot in NYC 1922. It was an unwritten rule that straw hats should not be worn after Sep 15. It started when teenagers tried to take and stomp on the straw hats of dock workers.

R7O4w TIL that speed readers were asked to read a text without knowing that every other line came from a different source yet they didn't notice it. In another study, speed readers scored 68% in a standard comprehension test, but the tests were so easy that people who never read the material scored 57%
4Xl76 TIL Steven Bradbury won an Olympic Gold Medal in speed skating because all the other competitors fell over
yaRe TIL that Japanese anti-crime paintball was inspired by toll-booth attendants throwing raw eggs at toll-evaders that charged through without paying their tolls. While the police appreciated this effort to mark nonpayers, they felt it was inappropriate to use food for the purpose.
Lk850 TIL in 1991 two English pranksters took credit for many of Britain's crop circles, after an investigator declared one example "impossible for human beings to make". After some refused to believe them, Bower and Chorley started adding straight lines and squares to show they weren't natural.
JDVk TIL that the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight in 1903 “did not create public excitement—if people even knew about them—and the news soon faded”. In fact, they were largely mocked and disregarded until a demonstration in France nearly 5 years later.