› added 6 years ago

131

TIL In 1925, General Electric, Phillips, & other light bulb manufacturers colluded against consumers & created the 'Phoebus Cartel'. The Cartel conspired to reduce the 1925 light bulb life expectancy from 2500 Hours down to only 1000 Hours & at the same time, to increase the Price Per Bulb.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

0wGjv TIL that the Catholic Church didn't pardon Galileo until 1992, when Pope John Paul II admitted Galileo was right, more than 350 years after the condemnation
pmnZ TIL in 1738 Jaques de Vaucanson created a mechanical duck that could flap its wings,drink water,digest grain and even defecate. The duck had over 400 moving parts in each wing alone. Vaucanson is credited as having invented the world’s first flexible rubber tube while building the duck’s intestines
NXL7e TIL that 2024 is the 200th anniversary of the Egyptian Museum of Turin, Italy. It's older than both the modern Italian state (unified in 1861) and the Cairo Egyptian Museum (established in 1902)
pYJ5N TIL that in The Shawshank Redemption, when Morgan Freeman’s character is asked “why do they call you Red?” and he responds with “maybe it’s because I’m Irish”.
5VMWk TIL Ferdinand Verbiest created the first vehicle which moved under its own power in 1672 as an amusement for the Chinese Emperor Kangxi. The steam vehicle was 2 ft in length and built like a five-wheeled cart-like trolley