› added 12 years ago

101

TIL that a fake Wikipedia article about a fictional war (“Upper Peninsula War”) went unnoticed for years.

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via reddit.com

Y7kLv TIL when given a full-grown grizzly bear by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1811 (the first ever in the United Kingdom), King George III said he would have preferred a new tie or pair of socks
WkVJd TIL that Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" is considered by some music historians to be the first "diss track" in history. The cannon battery at the climax was likely included to mock the French, referencing Napoleon's retreat from Moscow in 1812—when the Russian army used his own artillery against him.
78ZMp TIL about the Macchina of Santa Rosa, a 30m/98ft high machine built to honour Saint Rose of Viterbo. Every year 100 men called "Facchini di Santa Rosa" hoist the machine, weighing about 5k kg/11k lb, and carry it through the streets of Viterbo, in Italy. The machine is rebuilt anew every five years
PYW8n TIL DC Comics published 7 different Supergirl series from 1972 to the present day. The release of the last issue of Supergirl in the first series was delayed for several months due to a nationwide paper shortage in 1974 and the 1994 edition was only 4 issues long
e0Ak5 TIL that plants respond to stimuli as intelligent beings. When researchers played an audiotrack of caterpillars munching on leaves, plants secreted chemicals to make their own leaves more resistant. They can also sense gravity and the presence of water, and produce their own neurotransmitters.