› added 4 years ago

151

TIL: in 1978, 2,300 students tried to set a WR for the largest tug of war game. Instead, disaster ensued. The 2,000ft long braided nylon rope snapped, recoiling several thousand pounds of stored energy. Nearly 200 students lay wounded, 5 with severed fingertips, hundreds more faced 2nd degree burns.

Read more newspapers.com

via reddit.com

a8WL TIL in 1966, a group of therapists psycho-analyzed an entire convent of nuns, experimenting with personal liberation. Within 18mo, half the nuns [300] left the convent; the rest became radicalized lesbian nuns. [BBC doc]
Eg4XX TIL that after the Goliad Campaign in which Mexican forces defeated the Texian Army, an order came down to massacre the Texans. Mexican General José de Urrea who was responsible for defeating the Texans, was strongly opposed to the massacre but was ignored.
1gnW TIL Speeding tickets in Finland are determined by the driver’s annual income and a man once received a $200,000 fine for driving 50 mph in a 25 mph zone.
kOQg TIL AAA doesn’t care if you sign up for their membership on the side of the road… and that’s usually cheaper than calling a tow truck.
DQOxY TIL about Salzburg’s Krampus Parade, where people dress as terrifying ‘Krampuses’ to roam the streets in December, an old Alpine tradition tied to St. Nicholas.