› added 10 years ago

71

TIL of Trinite, the glass created by the first nuclear weapon detonation, was sold and used as jewelry before it was found to cause radiation burns.

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84r8 TIL that banning felons from voting started in the South in the 1870s after the 15th amendment gave black people the right to vote.
JR7k TIL it isn’t the first time a Mayan calender has ended. In fact it has happened on September 18, 1618, after which a new calender began.
eNMn TIL the smallest US state, Rhode Island, has a larger population than the largest US state, Alaska
LQ6jZ TIL the two worst place names in the UK (as voted in a 2012 poll) are about 10 miles apart - #1 is the hamlet of Shitterton and #2 is the clifftop valley of Scratchy Bottom, both in Dorset
GAQOQ TIL in the Battle of Schöngrabern, during the Napoleonic Wars, the French captured a bridge over the Danube at Vienna by falsely claiming that an armistice had been signed, and then rushing the bridge while the guards were distracted.