› added 11 years ago

80

TIL both Walt Disney and Ernest Hemingway were ambulance drivers for the Red Cross in WWI.

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168vD TIL Sichuan salt wells are 2,250 old. As demand for salt grew, deeper wells were needed. Sometimes, they hit natural gas pockets resulting in explosions. They learnt to harness it with bamboo tubes and mud. Gas was then used to cook the brine to produce salt crystals faster.
9w88M TIL: the main reason why pigeons are so numerous in cities is that this environment is similar to their place of origin: seaside cliffs of the Mediterranean. Pigeons of today are descended from those that escaped captivity when they were popular as pets.
x6XGw TIL that in his first few appearances, Beetle Bailey was a college student rather than a private, but the strip wasn't successful, so its author had Beetle enlist in the Army shortly after, where he has remained ever since.
lo0MB TIL Before 1995, anyone who wanted a domain name could register it FREE OF CHARGE. That all changed when the National Science Foundation awarded tech consulting company Network Solutions the ability to charge for registration. Domain prices began at $100 for a two-year registration.
b9A97 TIL: Mansa Musa was an African Muslim king, whose 4,000-mile trip to Mecca accompanied by a caravan of 60,000 people and thousands of servants. Historians believe that he is the richest man in the worlds history - with an inflation-adjusted fortune, his wealth amounts to around $400 billion today.