› added 11 years ago

110

TIL Ho Chi Minh quoted the Declaration of Independence when he declared Vietnam’s independence from France

P5Yn TIL: Margaret Anne Cargill was a philanthropist born into one of the wealthiest families in the world. She gave away more than $200M during her life, always anonymously, and provided that after her death all her wealth go to charity. In 2011 her assets were liquidated, resulting in a $6B donation.
v1yNR TIL at George Washington's 1787 farewell party, 56 people drank 60 bottles of claret, 54 bottles of Madeira, 8 bottles of hard cider, 8 bottles of whiskey, 22 bottles of porter, and 7 large bowls of alcoholic punch; the bar tab cost $15 000 in today's money.
pNgA TIL Karl Plagge was a Wehrmacht officer who used his position to try and save 1240 Jews in Lithuania from Nazi extermination. At his trial he did not speak in his own defense because he blamed himself for not doing enough. In 2005 he was awarded “Righteous Among the Nations”.
p8Ka4 TIL Siegel and Shuster created Kryptonite in 1940, in an unpublished Superman story 3 years before it appeared on the radio show. DC Comics rejected the story because among other things Superman revealed his secret identity to Lois, causing their relationship to change and upsetting the status quo.
X00LQ Today I learned that the Samurai were not only trained how to kill, but how to do it aesthetically. Considering killing to be an artform of the highest aesthetics needed for Self Perfection.