› added 1 month ago

8

TIL that U.S. President Polk made a deal with exiled Mexican general Santa Anna to lift the American blockade of Mexico so he could return and hand over territory. To the dismay of the Americans, Santa Anna immediately reneged on the deal and took up arms in the Mexican-American War.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

e0LpE TIL John Cleese refused a knighthood honor as he said the naming of a species of Wooly lemur (Avahi cleesei) was a greater honor.
v1wOx TIL that the ITER fusion reactor is scheduled to be switched on in 2025, but it will take 10 years from that point to reach fusion.
E1jxP TIL that Beethoven didn't know how to read a metronome and that's why his tempo indications are slower than what feels right (+-12bpm). After decades of theorising about it, turns out he was just writing down the number on the bottom of the metronome's upper weight, not the top.
LQNMd TIL the ancient Nazca got water in the middle of the desert through an engineered series of 46 aqueducts running 12 km underground. They were built around 200-500 AD, and 32 of them are still used by local farmers today
rRWXM TIL that Reese's peanut butter cups were also originally called "penny cups" since they cost just one cent each when Harry Burnett Reese first started selling them in 1928. The penny cups were so successful that Reese was able to sell them in 5-pound boxes to local retailers.