› added 2 months ago

19

Today I Learned that Pete Seeger's first album appearance was on a record denouncing the prospect of war with Nazi Germany, as he was a Communist Party member supportive of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

J17O8 TIL Alan Kay envisioned the concept of the DynaBook in 1968. Originally called "KiddiComp", he described it as a personal computer for children of all ages and would offer similar functionality as what is now known as a laptop or tablet.
9YLVM TIL Since the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed, the obesity rates in both Canada and Mexico have risen sharply due to a boost in consumption of high fructose corn syrup products imported from the US.
pYv1A TIL about the RMS Mülheim, a German owned freighter that was wrecked off the coast of Ireland because the officer of the bridge had his trousers caught in the lever of his chair while getting up and was subsequently knocked unconscious.
WkG89 TIL a 1485 poem describes the knight who killed Richard III as having 'shaved the boar's head.' This was thought to be a metaphor for beheading until his bones were discovered. The back of Richard III's skull had been sliced off. According to a French chronicler, it had been done with a halberd.
Wk158 TIL Charles Dickens wrote the popular Christmas classic, "A Christmas Carol," in six weeks. Dickens was a passionate advocate of the poor and defenseless who experienced his own hardship, at twelve, when his parents and younger brothers were put in debtors’ jail and he had to work off their debts.