› added 6 years ago

71

TIL of Johann Elser, a German carpenter who almost killed Adolf Hitler and most of the top Nazi leaders shortly before the outbreak of WWII. He worked alone to construct and plant a bomb that went off just 13 minutes too late. He was a Christian motivated by a sense that millions would soon die.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

BrALK TIL Disney paid Paramount at least $115M in 2010 to buy the distribution rights of Marvel’s “The Avengers”. As part of the deal, it was Paramount that was shown in the movie’s opening title despite NOT being the one who owned, financed, marketed & distributed the film. It later grossed over $1.5B.
MDDW TIL that it is called a “shift” key because on typerwritters uppercase letters were typed by holding down a key that would literally shift the carriage so that a different part of the type bar—the part on which an uppercase letter was printed—would hit the ribbon.
6EJQW TIL in 1972 Romas Kalanta was 19 year old Lithuanian high school student known for his public self-immolation protesting against soviet regime in Lithuania. His death provoked biggest post war riots and inspired 13 more similar suicides against regime. His funeral was delayed to prevent publicity.
JaG8 TIL that in 2012 Wells Fargo fired a customer service representative for putting a cardboard dime in a laundry machine back in 1963.
GYRNN TIL a Navy Seal Lieutenant, Michael P. Murphy, along with a 4-man team were pinned down by nearly 100 Taliban Militants in a remote part of Afghanistan. Murphy made his way to a high-point in the mountains to successfully phone in reinforcements. He continued to fight for 2 hours until his death.