› added 6 years ago

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TIL Bjarni Herjólfsson, a 10th century Norse explorer, was the first European to sight North America in 986 while blown off course for Greenland. Despite begging from his crew to explore, he refused to stop and look around. He was later criticized by King Eric of Norway for his lack of investigation

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1aLNP TIL Peppermint Patty, a tomboy who was added to Peanuts in response to the women's lib movement, was often voiced by a male actor.
5mYB TIL Sony sold 12 million floppy disks.. in 2009
oBQd8 TIL that in 1982, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was rushed to hospital when a fish bone became stuck in her throat, and she ended up having an operation to remove it. Being a keen fisher, she calmly joked when it was done: "The salmon have got their own back".
gr0VX TIL: In the 1920s there was a mob hitman called Willie "Two-Knife" Altieri who was noted to have soft womanly hands, used his knives to clean his fingernails, and slept with them. He killed dozens of rival gangsters before disappearing in 1928 after Al Capone killed his boss.
6EjEJ TIL that Kennett Square, a small area in Pennsylvania, grows 50% of the countries mushrooms, and has been named the mushroom capital of the world