› added 2 years ago

477

TIL about ether, a drug that took Ireland and most of baltic/eastern Europe by storm in the 18th and 19th century. Village addiction rates were up to 90% with entire villages reeking off the drug, commonly used as an alternative to alcohol for the poor or abstinent. Even 10yo children took it.

b6eK0 TIL: The Union Army didn't recruit black soldiers until after the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet, the mortality rate amog the United States Colored Troops (USCT) was 35% greater than among other troops even though they it formed 18 months after the Civil War began.
QJ76E TIL Robert Blackwell co-wrote many of Little Richard's rock and roll hits including "Long Tall Sally"; "Good Golly Miss Molly"; "Ready Teddy"; and "Rip It Up". They have subsequently been covered by hundreds of artists including Elvis Presley, the Beatles
oBBQR TIL that in 2005, an interactive real-world game called Perplex City was created. It featured different puzzle cards and was solved in 2007. However, one card remains unsolved. Card #256 shows a picture of a man with the message: "Find me." No one has found him to this day.
xVlW7 TIL that during WWII, the large crosswelded metal beams that covered the beaches of Normandy on D-day are called Hemmbalken, and were supposed to wreck landing craft that were expected to attack during high tide. The Allies instead charged while exposed during low tide.
R7Q6 TIL a episode of the children’s show Postcards from Buster titled Sugar Time was banned by some (but not all) affiliates because of children with gay parents appearing. This caused the loss of government funding and eventually cancellation of the series.