› added 5 years ago

251

TIL that purple Skittles are grape flavoured in the USA rather than blackcurrant (in the UK) due to a ban introduced in 1629. Although it's been lifted, only 0.1% of american have eaten a blackcurrant.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

69yVY TIL that the Emperor Claudius' son Britannicus despised his older cousin Nero, persistently calling him his birth name "Ahenobarbus" despite getting renamed when Claudius adopted him as his co-heir. Shortly after Nero became emperor, he ordered Britannicus murdered with poison at a banquet.
d8xbj TIL that on the sign to Aushiwitz "Arbeit macht frei" (work sets you free) the B is upside down, this was done by the Jewish prsioners there as an act of defiance.
6E7nZ TIL 250 Union soldiers surrendered to the Confederates, enlisted in the Confederate Army while held as POWS, were recaptured by the Union Army, and then re-enlisted as Union soldiers. They were called Galvanized Yankees.
6EOb7 TIL that nineteenth century New Orleans socialite Delphine LaLaurie was discovered to have been torturing several slaves in her home for months on end. In public life, she put on a facade of politeness toward black Americans and bragged about taking good care of her slaves.
Y7mo7 TIL: A wealthy stock trader was sentenced in 2017 after a man he hired to dig a secret tunnel to a nuclear bunker died a fiery death. He made him wear blackout glasses, spoofed the wifi, and lowers a bucket for his tunnel guy to relieve himself for days at a time to keep the location secret.