› added 7 years ago

126

TIL of Elektro the robot. Built in 1937 to resemble the typical American male he could look, listen, speak, move independently and, of course, smoke cigarettes.

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yQQAa TIL that Bruges, Belgium must have at least 58 swans in the city canals to avoid the curse that was made on 1488.
GAAN5 TIL that the British had a POW camp called Trent park during WWII. They would take axis prisoners of war and let them live in luxury, while secretly bugging the house. The program gave the allies lots of intel, such as the location of a V2 rocket facility.
oRZaE TIL "Jingle Bells" was one of the first songs to broadcast from space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra.
daQr TIL: Syphilis had been called the “French disease” in Italy, Poland and Germany, the “Italian disease” in France, the “Spanish disease” by the Dutch, the “Polish disease” by Russians, and the Turks called it the “Christian disease.”
8p0L TIL that a there is a traditional British army drink called gunfire made of black tea and rum. Officers serve it to lower ranks on Christmas. During the Korean war, British soldiers once gave gunfire to some American MPs, causing them to drive an ARV and some Jeeps into a fence.