› added 7 years ago

164

TIL There used to be mushroom farms in the Paris Catacombs

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69AdW TIL someone patented a brass monkey arranged so that, when it got cold enough, its balls would freeze off
OorP1 TIL during WWII, Winston Churchill had a private bathroom in his bunker, that was actually hiding a direct phone-link to the president of the USA. So, when the lock on the door was switched from ‘vacant’ to ‘engaged’, Churchill wasn’t using the toilet, he was instead conducting important business.
MeGNm TIL that in 1990, a pilot was partially sucked out of his plane when the windscreen failed. The cabin crew couldn't pull him back in so he dangled outside the plane for 20 minutes until the copilot landed the plane. The pilot made a full recovery.
KRB4 TIL the use of sunscreen can cause coral bleaching; the main component of sunscreen, titanium dioxide, forms hydrogen peroxide, OH- and superoxides (O2-) in water, all of which contribute to coral bleaching. 10% of bleached coral is estimated to have been caused by sunscreen alone.
d815j TIL: In 1918, Iowa Governor William F. Harding signed a proclamation banning all languages other than English for public conversation, education, speeches, or church services. Some churches had to close and people were fined for speaking German on the phone.