› added 11 years ago

199

TIL Philadelphia literally burns old money for electricity

Read more factually.gizmodo.com

via reddit.com

rRoGW TIL Charles-Henri Sanson, official executioner of France from 1778-1795, who executed 2918 people - including King Louis XVI - with his own hand, intended for his eldest son to inherit his position, but that son died in 1792 after slipping off a scaffold as he displayed a severed head to the crowd
J0Yj TIL that sand is a finite resource and we are running out.
16gGV TIL that there is poem nearly two thousand years old accusing someone of insurance fraud: Epigram III.52 by Roman satirist Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis).
N7XQE TIL Johnny Carson once joked on The Tonight Show about a nonexistent toilet paper shortage which led to eventual panic buying leaving store shelves empty causing a real shortage that lasted weeks
00Yp TIL after a bombing run a damaged bomber was flying home when Luftwaffe pilot, was ordered to shoot it down. He refused as he saw it as dishonourable and flew with it to open sea, to prevent it being shot down. The two pilots met 40 years later and become friends for the rest of their lives.