› added 4 years ago

71

TIL a Confederate soldier named John Stith Pemberton got stabbed in the chest in battle, and afterwards became hooked on morphine. He was working on a cure for his painkiller addiction when he accidentally mixed it with carbonated water and invented Coca-Cola.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

VBnpD TIL the biohazard symbol didn't symbolize or refer to anything originally. It's simply a shape that was picked as being symmetrical, hard to mistake, and easy to remember
yQ7Ae TIL:About Albert Hale Sylvester a surveyor that worked for the USGS and US forest service, he gave names to over a 1000 natural features in Washington State, sometimes he was very whimsical/unusual in his naming practices giving such names as, Dirtyface peak,Dishpan gap,pass no pass, and many more.
gA7y TIL that jazz trumpeters grew goatees as it provided comfort when playing
JAw8 TIL A young Bill Nye worked in a local comedy show in Seattle called “Almost Live!” During one episode the show’s host said “jiggawatts” when he meant say “giggawatts.” When Bill jumped in to correct him the host snapped back, “Who do you think you are, Bill Nye the Science Guy?” The name stuck.
pXV4 TIL there is one double barrel cannon in existence. It was intended to fire simultaneously from side-by-side barrels two balls linked by a chain, intended to scythe down enemy soldiers like standing wheat.