› added 1 year ago

94

TIL the myth of a Deaf Frenchman and a hearing American teaching each other their languages on an ocean voyage in 1816, prior to establishing the first school for the Deaf in the US is not only true, but meticulously-documented. (And The Lincoln statue hands really do show his initials in ASL.)

Read more disabilitymuseum.org

via reddit.com

x4G1 TIL: in 2010 a man had live explosives on his bag for three days unknowingly, when he got a phone call and a bomb squad showed up at his home. The explosives were placed and forgotten on his bag during an airport security exercise.
Wbn8 TIL that serial killer John Wayne Gacy met First Lady Rosalynn Carter in 1978. The picture of them together shows him wearing a pin that meant Secret Service gave him special clearance.
MdQK TIL McDonald’s is a worldwide real estate giant who owns the majority of its property. They buy property and lease it back to their franchisees, collecting billions in revenue each year.
7r0o7 TIL that a TV movie about nuclear war called The Day After (1983), starring Steve Guttenberg and Jon Lithgow, may have prevented nuclear war. When Ronald Reagan wrote about it he said it left him "greatly depressed". This lead to the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987.
1K07 TIL that Doctor Who star David Tennant fulfilled concert pianist’s dying wish by using his skull in a performance of Hamlet.