Post * rNwx4 — Curious Curator

› added 8 months ago

TIL that during the Argentine economic boom, from the 1860s to 1930s, the UK played a dominant role in the Argentine economy. The community of English, Scottish, and Welsh Argentines was the largest of any country outside the British Empire, leading to the popular name of the "Sixth Dominion".

wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

rk4M TIL that in 1258 the Mongols destroyed Baghdad. Survivors said that “the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantities of books flung into the river and red from the blood of the scientists and philosophers killed.” The siege marked the end of the Islamic Golden Age.

pYnjQ TIL NATO logo does not say NATO backwards. NATO is an acronym for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. OTAN is an acronym for the French translation of that. Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord.

rRkXo TIL the first non-stop transatlantic flight happened in 1919. A modified WWI bomber with an open cockpit took off from Newfoundland, Canada with a crew of two. They almost spiraled into the ocean twice in heavy fog, had to climb onto the wings to clear ice, and landed in a bog in Connemara, Ireland.

xV8XB TIL After a composer released a song that was just 60 seconds of silence, he was sued by the estate of a man who had released a similar track, called 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence. His defense was, "I have been able to say in one minute what he could only say in four minutes and 33 seconds"

8mV TIL that there was a sequel to the wizard of oz that was about dorothy going into a mental hospital because nobody believed her adventure.