› added 6 years ago

124

TIL: Town planning was an Olympic event up until 1948

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

KWgJ TIL that Rhode Island fielded a regiment during the Revolutionary war filled with Black soldiers, because they couldn’t get enough Whites to sign up.
rNk1M TIL about Lake Natron in Tanzania, which is so dangerously alkaline thanks to the magmatic limestone from a nearby volcano, any animal that dies and falls in is mummified. The only animals that go there are lesser flamingos, who use it as a mating ground, and even they sometimes die.
x6Pk1 TIL that NASA engineers designed a make up kit because they thought female astronauts would want make up in space
X0A4X TIL game designer Will Wright (creator of The Sims) held the record for the illegal 'Cannonball Run' race to drive across the US in 1980, driving from New York to California in 33 hours 9 minutes
DNJv TIL there’s an annual lying competition in England, and competitors from around the world have five minutes to tell the biggest and most convincing lie they can. Politicians and lawyers are banned from entering because they’re thought to be too good at it.