› added 3 years ago

121

TIL about the problem of communicating nuclear hazard warnings to our ancestors 10.000 into the future. Because languages change and symbols can lose their meaning, solutions include fear inducing structures, atomic priesthoods, and propagating myths about glowing cats.

Read more beatlyzer.com

via beatlyzer.com

Ypm1v TIL in spring of 1942 German U-boats terrorized east coast of US sinking fuel tankers and cargo ships with impunity and often within sight of shore and in less than 7 months destroyed 22 percent of the tanker fleet and sank 233 ships killing 5,000 ...more than 2X number who perished at Pearl Harbor.
m8x TIL that General Butt Naked would drink the blood or eat the heart of a small child he’d hunted down before going into battle naked except for sneakers and a machine gun, was responsible for 20,000 civilian deaths, and after converting to Christianity has yet to be prosecuted for war crimes.
D1vpg TIL that in 1969, Candid Camera host Allen Funt was on a plane that was hijacked by two men demanding passage to Cuba. The passengers, having spotted Funt, believed the situation to be a hidden camera prank. He could not convince them otherwise until the plane actually landed in Cuba.
4kmg5 TIL The 200+ yr old open-outcry system that the NYSE used was disrupted by an entrepreneur who created a digital exchange that is what ETFs trade on now, and has replaced the often corrupted system that existed for generations.
xVpP7 TIL that Burkina Faso meaning “land of incorruptible people” used to be called The Republic of Upper Volta after the Volta river with its flag representing the 3 main tributaries: the Black, White, and the Red Volta.