› added 8 years ago

123

TIL of Richard Lawrence, who in 1835 attempted to assassinate President Andrew Jackson at a funeral using two pistols shot point blank. When both misfired, the President severely beat him with his cane, after which he was wrestled into submission by Davy Crockett.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9YweQ TIL the Swedish propaganda/war ship Vasa sank 100m into its maiden voyage and was recovered 333 years later. Today it is the oldest preserved ship and can be seen in a Stockholm museum.
9YOym TIL that the term “mental retardation” which we now deem “inappropriate”, was a medical term for people with intellectual impairments, invented to replace terms that were more offensive. The American Association on Mental Retardation introduced it to be a neutral term in 1961.
m1dYO TIL During the battle of yarmuk in 636 roman commander Jarja a unit commander in the Byzantine right centre, rode up to the Muslim line and converted to Islam; he would die the same day fighting his former allies
6EYAW TIL Fireflies are the most efficient lights in the world. 100% of energy is emitted as light. Fireflies: larvae & eggs glow, talk to each other with light, imitate each other, then eat other fireflies, are on almost every continent, taste bad, are medically and scientifically useful, adults live<1mo
4XQwN TIL that Dr. Seuss was afraid of public speaking because he was traumatized by President Teddy Roosevelt as a Boy Scout. In his later years, he lived in isolation at the top of a mountain.