› added 10 years ago

98

TIL that there is a simple version of Wikipedia, called the Simple English Wikipedia, which uses only simple words and grammar and is for people who are learning English and also for people who want to understand something fast.

Read more simple.wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

6ABX TIL: A strongman named John Holtum demonstrated his strength by putting a full cannon on stage and catching the 50-lb cannonballs it fired directly at his chest. The first time he tried, he lost two fingers, but wasn’t injured after that.
kjNg TIL In 1980 after a simple miscalculation, a drilling company accidentally punctured the roof of a salt mine on Lake Peigneur, draining 2.5 million gallons in less than 3 hours. The whirlpool was so strong it sucked barges to the bottom and reversed the Gulf of Mexico.
yQjjv TIL while recording the improvisational piece “Trio”, King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford waited for the right moment to join, but decided the piece was progressing better without him, and remained silent. He received co-writing credit for the "admirable restraint” he showed.
oBbr7 TIL that the electricity-generating 'dynamos' on bikes are actually called magnetos because they output alternating current.
kOWB5 TIL that signer of USA constitution, Gouverneur Morris, died from sticking a whalebone in his urethra.