› added 8 years ago

103

TIL: The racist use of ‘coon’ started out as a political insult. The Whig party used a raccoon as it’s emblem, and were referred to as “coons” by their opponents. In the 1830s the Whig’s were seen a too sympathetic to African-Americans.

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

9w5bD TIL that Glenn Gould "detest[ed] audiences" despite achieving global fame via high-profile piano performances. He would completely cease publicly performing in his early 30s.
M7kXK TIL that fossilization is so unlikely that scientists estimate that less one-tenth of 1% of all the animal species that have ever lived have become fossils.
lEk5 TIL the word “Testify” originates from the Latin word for testicle. Two men taking an oath of allegiance would hold their balls as a sign of truthfulness. If they broke their oath they would lose their manhood, literally putting their balls on the line.
GAPn1 TIL about the Moon is Down by John Steinbeck (1942), the most popular piece of Allied propaganda in Nazi occupied Europe during WWII. Steinbeck was awarded the Freedom Cross by the King of Norway after the war for having “bolstered the morale of his entire war-ravaged nation”.
oBKQ8 TIL Robert Plant once pledged $10,000 to KBOO, an independent radio station in Portland Oregon, in order for them to never again play the song Stairway to Heaven on their station.