› added 4 months ago

18

TIL Macy’s canceled its Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1942-1944 during WWII, donating its giant balloon animals for the war effort to make 650 pounds of valuable rubber for the military.

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JYBX4 TIL the public was informed they wouldn't be permitted at the landing location of the Hindenburg because the airship was running a half day late due to storms. These storms saved hundreds of bystanders from being burned alive on the ground.
loo6N TIL Infamous sound barrier-breaking pilot Chuck Yeager happened to take down one of the world’s first jet fighters in WWII, so he gets to say, “The first time I ever saw a jet, I shot it down."
NXXe1 TIL that the last battle of the thirty years war was fought at Prague where the war started thirty years earlier during the bohemian revolt. Swedish forces took parts of the city including Prague castle and looted it for months before being repelled by bohemian forces.
Y7ZaG TIL the Ghost Camaro from the Bosnian War stalled on the road, but started working again the next day as if nothing happened. The Camaro stalled right before a stretch of road where soldiers were killing drivers, indirectly saving the Ghost Camaro driver's life.
R7aV9 TIL the world’s oldest pool of water was found 2 miles down a Canadian mineshaft and dated at ~2 billion years old. By observing the sulphate in the water, researchers were also able to confirm that single-celled organisms had inhabited the pool at some point.