› added 11 years ago

93

TIL that Anna Paquin went to an audition of The Piano because she had nothing better to do. Selected among 5,000 candidates for the role in The Piano she earned the 1993 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 11 making her the second-youngest Oscar winner in history.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

X0anX TIL that despite being a NATO member, Iceland has not had a standing army since 1869. They have had a defense agreement with the United States since 1951, though the US has not had soldiers stationed there since 2006, and they have defense agreements with other NATO countries.
lLN5 TIL The first ever comic convention was held in New York City in 1964. It was hosted in a small hotel room and had about 30 guests. The first person that signed up for attendance was a teenage George R.R. Martin.
Lk0QV TIL First Lady Edith Wilson was a direct descendant of Pocahontas, helped run the presidency after her husband's stroke, and attended JFK's inauguration at age 88
Z8RKv TIL McDonald's buys a lot of apples. As of 2016, McDonald's sold more than 10% of all sliced apples in the US. At its core, the apple industry resurgence over the last decade can be traced, at least in part, to McDonald's.
QJ7ya TIL that on Dec 20, 1987, Philippines, an estimated 4,386 people died, many of whom burnt alive in an event known as Asia's Titanic and the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster. The ship Doña Paz, w/ a capacity of 1,518 passengers sank after colliding with an oil tanker. Only 25 people survived