› added 12 years ago

94

TIL that 62 of the 97 people onboard the Hindenburg survived when it was destroyed.

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via reddit.com

QJVD9 TIL high purity carbon dioxide is a byproduct of ammonia fertilizer production and is bought by Coca-Cola to carbonate their drinks.
7R7M TIL that Vincent Chin was beat to death with a baseball bat by two disgruntled Detroit Auto-workers on June 23, 1989. They served no jail-time and only paid a fine of $3000. Because of this, Vincent Chin’s murder is often considered the beginning the Asian American movement for civil rights.
eyJJ TIL that press sensationalism influenced the 1982 conviction of an Australian woman for murdering her baby, and after 6 years in prison she was totally exonerated, yet her plaintive “a dingo ate my baby” became joke fodder among American comedians.
a8gAJ TIL that in 2011 a man in Egpyt named his daughter Facebook. He chose the name to "to express his joy at the achievements made by the January 25 youth," who organized protests with social media, starting that day, which led to the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, after 30 years in power.
X0eKR TIL: to clear land for logging in Canada, forestry workers, often students and junior rangers, spent weeks at a time as human markers holding red, helium-filled balloons on fishing lines while low-flying planes sprayed Agent Orange on the brush and the boys below. "We were saturated in chemicals"