› added 10 years ago

131

TIL when the allied forces were signing the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, the Canadian general blind in one eye mistakenly signed below his signature line, forcing every person after him to sign one space below. The Japanese found it unacceptable.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9wELD TIL: I learnt about Miller-Urey experiment, that simulates conditions of early earth, proving amino acids formed from inorganic compounds. Those proteins are relevant to the origin of life
a8Ney TIL that after the Papal States were lost and Rome was annexed to Italy in 1870, the Pope became a self-imposed prisoner within the Vatican. This situation lasted until the Lateran Treaty in 1929, which established Vatican City as an independent sovereign entity.
6EkNm TIL a fire in 2008 destroyed the master recordings of hundreds of artists, including John Coltrane, Joni Mitchell, R.E.M. and Eminem
5VNGn TIL that when the first platypus specimen was sent to England in 1799, British scientists believed it was an elaborate hoax and even tried to pry its duck-like bill off, convinced someone had stitched it on.
Y78VA TIL that the first historical mosque in the world (built by Muhammad himself) was torn down and replaced by the Saudi government in 1984.