› added 9 years ago

63

TIL Acme City whistle founder Joseph Hudson accidentally dropped his violin and it shattered on the floor. As the violin broke, it emitted a unique warbling sound and led him to an idea to putting a pea in a whistle. Pea whistles went on to replace policemen’s ineffective rattles for communicating.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

OG6DY TIL that The New York City blackout of 1977 has 1616 building looted or destroyed and cost about 300 m $ damage
pygG TIL In 2008, melamine added to milk in China caused kidney stones in thousands of Chinese children. To show his confidence in Chinese dairy products, Peter Mandelson MP drank a glass of Chinese yoghurt in front of reporters. The following week, he was hospitalised for a kidney stone.
xM17 TIL that Jon Lovitz once slammed Andy Dick’s head into a bar
PybV TIL of math prodigy George Green, who operated a windmill for 20 years. Almost completely self-taught, he could not attend university until almost 40 years old. Green nonetheless graduated from Cambridge as one of the top math students; Einstein later said that he was 20 years ahead of his time.
yVVMl TIL a bankrupted con-artist from Oregon was able to purchase a bank license and opened a offshore bank in Grenada by claiming to own a 4 pound ruby worth $20 million dollars and a appraisal document proving its worth. The ruby was owned by a man in California who didn't know the scammer.