› added 10 years ago

99

TIL As a boy, Michael Bay attached some firecrackers to a toy train and filmed the ensuing fiery disaster with his mother’s 8 millimeter camera. The fire department was called and he was grounded

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

PwNZ TIL, in 1899 taxi driver Jacob German was arrested for driving 12mph, 4 mph over the legal limit. He was pulled over by a police officer on a bicycle.
9gGB TIL a study conducted by Johns Hopkins found fifty US hospitals that gouge uninsured patients about 1000% actual costs, with the worst offender being North Okaloosa Medical Center who charge the uninsured 12.6 times the actual cost of patient care
ym5p TIL in 1984 McDonald’s ran a promotion where customers scratched off a ticket with the name of an Olympic event on it, and if the U.S. won that event then they would be given a free menu item. The promotion became a near financial disaster due to the Soviet boycott.
PYeRJ TIL one of New York’s first crime bosses was a Prussian immigrant known as Mother Mandelbaum. She built up a criminal empire worth millions, ran a school to teach kids how to become successful pickpockets and thieves, and functioned as one most prominent hostesses for New York’s high society.
Yv5r TIL the BBC convinced people that spaghetti grew on trees for their April Fools prank in 1957