› added 9 years ago

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TIL that so many people died by ringing church bells in storms, due to the belief that it would disperse thunder, that the practice was banned by the Parlement of Paris

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VBwm0 TIL that in 1938 the Chinese government deliberately destroyed the dikes of the Yellow River in order to cause a flood with the aim of slowing the Imperial Japanese Army and in the process killed up to 900,000 Chinese civilians, created millions of refugees and destroyed thousands of villages
grOgL TIL in 1987, United Airlines purchased Hertz, Westin, and Hilton for $2.3 billion, and rebranded itself as Allegis Corp., a one-stop fly-drive-sleep travel company. Stock prices tanked, investors balked, and it was dismantled less than 4 months later.
OGV71 TIL that the $8B nail salon industry—and its prevalence of Vietnamese proprietors—can be traced back to Tippi Hedren, the famous leading actress from "The Birds" and "Marnie"
16o07 TIL the Titanic’s sister ship, HMT Olympic, rammed and sunk a U-Boat in World War I. Olympic survived unscathed.
R5766 TIL that Seahorses are the only species in which the male gets pregnant and gives birth. When mating the female deposits her eggs into the male's brood pouch, and the male fertilizes them internally. He carries the eggs in his pouch until they hatch, then releases baby seahorses into the water