› added 3 weeks ago

21

TIL about the Blue Diamond Affair in which approx 90 kg of Saudi Royal jewels were stolen by a Thai worker in 1989 that led to the deaths of several Saudi diplomats and businessmen in Thailand, souring international relations for over 30 years.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

p895Q TIL that the Pink Triangle, a symbol for gay pride, was originally used to denote homosexuals in concentration camps. Because the symbol also identified other “sexual undesirables,” gay men were often left imprisoned when Allied troops liberated others from the camps.
MJZB TIL that Nirvana purposely hired a bad video director, Sam Bayer, so that the music video for Smells Like Teen Spirit would turn out to be rough and ‘not corporate’ like. But the video was so well received that it gave the band, along with MTV, major corporate success.
X0E0D TIL who Hattie Alexander was. An early pioneer in DNA research, her groundbreaking work on influenzal meningitis significantly reduced infant death rates and advanced the field of microbiological genetics. In 1964 she was the first woman to be elected president of the American Pediatric Society.
a87mN TIL Mount Tambora had a series of violent eruptions in April of 1815, resulting in the largest eruption in recorded human history & an estimated 71,000 deaths. This led to 1816 being known as the year without a summer, resulting in the worst famine of the century when crops failed & livestock died.
rRK6o TIL About Coober Pedy, an Australian town where 80% of its residents live underground.