› added 7 years ago

159

TIL that during the 1521 siege of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, Hernan Cortes' conquistadors attempted to build a trebuchet. The very first shot went straight up and the machine was destroyed.

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VMdk TIL North Korea banned the movie “2012” because it coincides With Kim Il Sungs 100th birthday and because 2012 is the year they believe N Korea will rise as a superpower.
xjo TIL that the word ‘quite’ means 'very’ in American English, but means 'fairly’ in British English.
D1gNg TIL that when told that Captain Picard drank a lot of tea, Patrick Stewart suggested the character should drink lapsang souchong (a variety favored by Winston Churchill). The producers were afraid that audience members wouldn’t know what it was, so they made him change it to Earl Grey.
QJLPp TIL in 1974, the British Army took over Heathrow Airport. Although it was publicly said to be practice against an IRA plot, PM Wilson and the government had no knowledge of the exercise. It was later revealed that the British Army was planning a coup, and it was a trial run.
reYy TIL in 1958, only 4 percent of Americans supported marriage between “whites and non-whites.”