› added 2 years ago

92

TIL that between March 1910 and September 1911 a pressurized oil well explosion formed the Lakeview Gusher, releasing 9 million barrels of crude oil and flooding the area in rivers of oil. It's a "miracle" that the oil field had not caught fire and the event remains the worst oil spill in history.

epWOk TIL of Carlo Acutis (1991-2006), an Italian teenager and web designer. After two alleged miracles were attributed to him, Pope Francis announced he will be canonized, making him the first saint of the millennial generation.
BrZ9L TIL that in 1916 there was a proposed Amendment to the US Constitution that would put all acts of war to a national vote, and anyone voting yes would have to register as a volunteer for service in the United States Army.
mxAkE TIL, J.P. Morgan was so good at taking over troubled businesses, organized their structure and management to start making stable profits which gave birth to the term "Morganization" in banking and finance. This reputation made him the most successful banker and financier in America's history.
wLmr6 TIL that Leonard Nimoy (known for playing Spock in the Star Trek) published a book "I Am Not Spock" because people often called him Spock IRL, later he gave up and published another book "I Am Spock"
kOX5g TIL that the first nuclear explosion almost occurred by accident in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Dr. Richard Feynman, a physicist who was working on the Manhattan Project, discovered that the military's "need to know" security resulted in a dangerous amount of uranium nitrate being stored with uranium-235.