› added 4 years ago

75

TIL that during the time of the 3rd Reich, the Hitler Youth planted larches in a pine forest so that when autumn came it looked like a swastika from the air.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9YgLm TIL Abraham Lincoln's assassination helped to popularize travel by train due to the amount of press and exposure Lincoln's funeral train received. Up until then, most Americans had never seen a passenger train.
VBWn4 TIL while trying to call home from the International Space Station, British astronaut Tim Peake accidentally called the wrong number.
R58l6 TIL that despite common belief, Thomas Andrews did not remain in the Titanic’s smoking room until the end, as the steward who reported this story left the ship an hour before it sank. He was actually last seen at the bridge with Captain Smith, jumping off the bridge as it took its final plunge.
eXw6 TIL that the Secret Service purchased a 1907 White Motor Company steam car to follow President Theodore Roosevelt’s horse-drawn carriage. The president himself eschewed riding in the vehicle due to his “image as a rough-riding horseman”.
j6oPp TIL in the pre-smartphone era some mobile phones featured a small "self-portrait" mirror next to the camera to help the user line up selfies.