› added 8 years ago

186

TIL handling TNT turned female munition workers in the UK yellow during WWI; they were nicknamed the Canary Girls

Read more bbc.com

via ift.tt

rRZ6d TIL on February 5, 1958, two military airplanes colided during a training mission, resulting in a Mk 15 nuclear bomb being lost somewhere off the coast of Tybee Island, Georgia near Savannah.
dDeJ8 TIL The 'Leap Day William' episode of 30 Rock was directed by Steve Buscemi.
6Q88 TIL that Garret Morgan, the son of former slaves with only an elementary school education, invented a belt fastener for sewing machines, the first human hair straightening solution, an early form of the gas mask (used in WWI), and traffic signal technology (which he sold to GE for $40K in 1923).
OodP6 TIL during the 9/11 Commission, it was revealed that some investors placed large amounts of put options, a type of option that increases in value as a stock falls, against United and American Airlines, right before 9/11/2001. The investor's $5M profit still sits unclaimed in the Chicago Exchange.
neGnb TIL that an observatory in Germany is designed to look like R2-D2.