› added 3 months ago

17

TIL Sarah Josepha Hale, the author of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," campaigned for decades to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, writing to five presidents. Lincoln finally agreed in 1863.

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YRKr TIL that, before he died, Ötzi the Iceman leaned a bow stave against a rock, where it was found still upright 5,000+ years later
N7VmN TIL that Mongolia's Navy is comprised of 1 tugboat and 7 sailors, making it the smallest in the world.
gr54b TIL in the Siege of Leningrad, Nobel laureate economist and mathematician Leonid Kantorovich calculated an optimal distance between cars on the Road of Life based on temperature and ice thickness to ensure they didn't sink into Lake Ladoga. He walked between cars on the lake to ensure they complied.
WZvo TIL two white brothers took the Boston firefighters test claiming to be black so they would pass at the lower requirements. They worked for 10 years before being discovered.
Xk5E TIL Electric Eels are apex predators because none of the animals that can eat them want to get shocked