› added 11 years ago

79

TIL on January 27, 1992, then President George H. W. Bush said that he wanted the American family to be more like the Waltons than the Simpsons. Matt Groening responded by making a short segment in which Bart said, “Hey, we’re just like the Waltons. We’re praying for an end to the Depression, too.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9wrbr TIL about Father Yod, a cult leader that was a fighter pilot in WW2, robbed several banks, opened one of the first vegan restaurants, and started a psychedelic rock band
gXVA TIL that no one knows who invented the fire hydrant, because its patent was burned in a fire
78867 TIL Dr Seuss's original Lorax drawings are found in Austin, at the presidential library of Lyndon B Johnson. Johnson and his wife were environmentalists and he called Seuss personally to thank him for donating the original artwork to the Johnson archive
kOWJ7 TIL that the “BASE" in BASE jumping is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: building, antenna, span, and earth
Z8vyQ TIL that Henry Allingham, one of the last surviving veterans of WWI and one-time oldest man on earth, was called away from eating lunch to design the key countermeasure to Nazi magnetic mines - he did this in only 9 days. He attributed his longevity to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women."