› added 2 years ago

138

TIL The lighter was invented before the match

Read more wisdombiscuits.com

via reddit.com

GYmo5 TIL that the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson US supreme court decision, which upheld that segregation was constitution, has never been explicitly overruled. Technically, with the exception of education, segregation is still constitutional in the USA.
KOeKa TIL that in 1874, the NY Herald published an article about a mass escape of wild animals from the zoo, concluding with "the story given above is a pure fabrication". Most readers overlooked the final paragraph, and it sparked a mass panic, with the NY Times editor leaving his house with two pistols
n1Vr TIL that comparatively little is known about Bełżec, a Nazi extermination camp at which ~0.5 million people died, because evidence of the camp’s existence was almost entirely erased before the war’s end and only 2 survivors were able to give testimony.
XEoPr TIL It took mankind 57 years, 3 months and 26 days to advance from Wright's first manned flight to Gagarin's' first manned space flight. Today we are further in history from Gagarin's historic flight than he was from Wright's flight.
4PrR TIL that author Harlan Ellison wrote and finished his story ‘I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream’ in a single night and did not make any changes from the first draft