› added 9 years ago

137

TIL when building the Golden Gate Bridge, the lead structural engineer insisted on the installation of a safety net even though its $130,000 cost was deemed exorbitant. Over the four years of its construction, the net saved 19 men, who named themselves the “Halfway to Hell Club.”

Read more science.kqed.org

via reddit.com

neyOG TIL Sana Amanat, born into a Pakistani family, co-created Marvel's first solo series to feature a Muslim female superhero, Ms. Marvel. Growing up, she often saw women who were blonde and white idolized in society while Muslims were often demonized and she wished to become a pretty white girl
9Y8d7 TIL that during the 1946 election for sheriff in Athens, Tennessee a deputy refused to let an elderly black man vote. When the man dropped his ballot and ran, the deputy shot him in the back. This catalyst led to WWII veterans laying siege on the officers holed up in a prison.
R7YO9 TIL Until it became independent in 1991, Belarus, formerly known as Belorussia or White Russia, was the smallest of the three Slavic republics included in the Soviet Union. The territory that is now Belarus underwent partition and changed hands repeatedly
e0wvk TIL when Tater Tots first hit store shelves in 1956, people did not buy them because they were very inexpensive and there was no perceived value. When the price was raised by stores, people began buying the product.
oBPwY TIL There is a mental delusion called "The Truman Show delusion" where patients believed their lives were reality television shows. One traveled to NewYork to check whether the World Trade Center had actually fallen—believing 9/11 attacks to be an elaborate plot twist in his personal story line.