› added 5 years ago

102

TIL North Korea started to attempt to emulate certain aspects of China’s economic reform policies in 1980s, but both Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il felt great hostility toward China after Deng Xiaoping launched China on the path of pursuing market-oriented “socialism with Chinese characteristics”

5YjaB TIL that the first science fiction convention was held over 100 years ago. Like many that came after it featured cosplay and panels and was a disastrous financial failure.
rRdOo TIL The first man to climb Nanga Parbat (9th tallest mountain in the world) pushed through the final 4300 feet alone by taking a high dose of amphetamines and drinking tea brewed from coca leaves. He then stood on a ledge overnight before heading down.
ADxMd TIL The number of students caught cheating at the UK's top universities (including Oxford and Cambridge) increased by a third in three years. There was a surge in cases of academic misconduct.
gp5A TIL During the first successful Commando raid at Lofoten, Norway in WWII, the officer used the local telegraph office to send to “A.Hitler in Berlin,” the following message: “You said in your last speech, German troops would meet the British wherever they landed. Where are your troops?”
OxQ1 TIL: On this day in 1939, Lou Gehrig played his final game with the Yankees. He had played in 2,130 CONSECUTIVE games before being forced to retire by ALS, which would kill him 2 years later and become known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”