› added 7 years ago

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TIL that Zildjian , the largest cymbal producer, was founded in 1623 by an alchemist. He was attempting to turn metals to gold and accidentally made an alloy which made cymbals better. The business mainly made noisemakers for the Ottoman Army. A family member founded the 2nd biggest cymbal brand.

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78WaZ TIL Darwin, Australia was named after Charles Darwin but before he published his theory of evolution. Captain Wickham sailed with Darwin during HMS Beagle's first voyage, then he named the area after his old crewmate during the second voyage when he surveyed Northern Australia.
E4Pw TIL that in 1980, Lake Peigneur disappeared into a salt mine due to a triangulation error of a drill site. Video footage exists of the lake sucking in barges and other things.
epZWk TIL of Hurricane Bawbag. It was a storm that hit Scotland in 2011 and was named after the Scottish word for scrotum.
6EBWw TIL Hershey's once developed a chocolate bar for the US Army that would remain solid up to 49C (120F) and was poison gas proof but was also very bitter to prevent soldiers from eating it unless in an emergency. Troops called it "Hitler's Secret Weapon" because of what it would do to their bowels.
NWPJ TIL Iceland is the only NATO country with no standing army.