Post * kPpe — Curious Curator

› added 12 years ago

66

TIL that a meteorite exploded over the Mediterranean in 1999. Had it occurred a few hours earlier on the same latitude, it would have triggered a nuclear war between India and Pakistan who were fighting the Kargil War at that time.

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N784N TIL about Genna, a traditional Ethiopian sport similar to field hockey, played on a cow field without removing the cows. The goals are sometimes miles apart.

oBGJ7 TIL that DeForest Kelley never actually said "Damn it Jim! I'm a doctor, not a..." in the original Star Trek series on TV. The word "damn" was actually banned on TV at the time.

ZjaY TIL of John Clem, a drummer boy in the Union Army during the Civil War, who at age 11, shot a Confederate colonel who had demanded his surrender. Promoted to sergeant, he became the youngest NCO in Army history. He retired in 1915 as a general and the last actively-serving veteran of the Civil War.

6EKGZ TIL that the US government tested 23 nuclear bombs over 12 years at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall islands, including 15 megaton Castle Bravo. The nuclear fallout from this blast was contaminating nearby atolls for 2 days before the US finally evacuated the islanders.

X0oyX TIL of Tom Major Ball a circus performer who is listed as an inspiration for David Bowie’s “Major Tom”. Ball had numerous illegitimate children, had an affair with a co-star who later died on stage, sold garden gnomes as a business and in his 60’s, fathered future UK prime minister John Major.