› added 8 months ago

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TIL that Margaret Thatcher was opposed to the fall of the Berlin Wall and actively tried to stop it

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ANMoo TIL the phrase ""if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck" originated from a mechanical duck made in the 18th century that would appear to eat, digest and expel food.
8eQvb TIL that Ludvig Nobel, brother of Alfred Nobel (founder of the Nobel Prize) was a major oil developer in Baku, Azerbaijan. He created the first oil tanker ship, overcoming obstacles like avoiding fires on board, proper venting, heat expansion and balancing the ship. He refused to patent this.
5VLWQ TIL following backlash to the Morgenthau plan for Germany, President Roosevelt claimed "I have not approved anything like that. I am sure I have not. ... I have no recollection of this at all". Upon being read back what he had signed, Roosevelt said he had "no idea how he could have initialed this"
rRAbx TIL After the 2003 film The Cat in the Hat was released and panned by critics, the widow of Dr.Seuss vowed to never allow his work to be adapted in live action again.
Ogx4 TIL that death row inmate Sean Sellers was executed despite a Court of Appeal ruling that he may be “factually innocent” but that “innocence alone is not sufficient to grant federal relief”