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TIL: In Medieval Germany, peasants believed in a magical land called “Cockaigne”, or “schlaraffenland”, where you could grab pork sausage off of trees or have cooked fish swim out of a beer river and onto your plate. This tale stuck and motivated the working class; in fact, it’s still told today!

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8e18 TIL in the German Army, soldiers are obliged to disobey any order they think would violate human dignity. Few, if any other armies have this rule
7rlXL TIL It took 100 days to put out the flames of the 9/11 attacks. Everytime a large chunk of debris was moved a rush of oxygen would severely intensify the flames.
X68R TIL the only American not on Earth during 9/11 [Frank L. Culberston] recorded the event from the ISS. He later learned that the pilot of the plane that struck The Pentagon was a classmate of his from the US Naval Academy [Charles Burlingame].
yQbOw TIL 10 Downing Street in the 19th Century was guarded by two men who would sit outside the building in leather chairs, armed with a pistol. Each chair featured a drawer filled with hot coals to keep the guards warm, and a sphere-shaped hood to protect from the weather and improve acoustics.
90or TIL that Rodney Dangerfield’s signature line “I can’t get no respect” came to him after watching The Godfather in 1972. “All I heard was the word ‘respect’. You’ve got to give me respect, or 'Respect him.’ I thought to myself: It sounds like a funny image — a guy who gets no respect.”