› added 4 years ago

70

TIL: that the oil company Shell was started by a man called Samuel Samuel

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KO7k4 TIL "yelling FIRE in a crowded theater" was coined in 1919 to imprison anti-war activists who published leaflets opposing the Draft, which constituted a "clear and present danger" under the Espionage Act.
7w5L TIL that if you were to orbit a black hole in its photon sphere, you would see the back of your own head
kO4N5 TIL that the tale of Hansel and Gretel might have originated during the Great Famine of 1315 - 17. Food was in such short supplies that people abandoned their kids (probably why Hansel and Gretel are lost in a forest) and that people even resorted to cannibalism (explains the cannibalistic witch)
x49D TIL Bill Murray considers the movie Kung Fu Hustle a supreme achievement of the modern age in terms of comedy.
vdLj TIL that the Red Wolf is a canine species unique to the US that was hunted down to near extinction but is now being rescued after once only 17 animals remained