› added 12 years ago

99

TIL that Rudolf Diesel designed the diesel engine to run on vegetable oil

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rnQ0 TIL in Jamaica there’s a union for musicians. This is my father’s card from the 1970’s.
gMDB8 TIL of all the US states and territories, Hawaii has the lowest "highest all-time temperature" at 98°.
BgM9W TIL that in 1862 Lincoln rejected an offer for a battalion of elephants from the King of Siam (present day Thailand). The elephants would have been a follow up to a set of "royal gifts" which included a sword "of costly materials" already sent to the president. Talk about a white elephant!
9Y5vD TIL: An affair between two Brazilian politicians was revealed when they danced together to "Bésame Mucho". Later, one of them was to be introduced with a military march, but the director of the presidential band had them play "Bésame Mucho" instead. He got 3 days of house arrest for insubordination.
0dkNM TIL that the Battle of Santa Clara, which was decisive in Fidel Castro's rise to power in Cuba, was won by bulldozing an armoured train full of supplies and armoured personnel carriers. Today some of the derailed cars and the bulldozers are on display near the Santa Clara station.