› added 10 years ago

86

TIL until late 1942, it was common for German U-boats to provide torpedoed survivors with food, water, and the direction of the nearest landmass. This ended when a U-boat towing lifeboats and flying the Red Cross flag was attacked by a US bomber.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

gNE4 TIL that despite both being great composers, and living 80 miles apart (and never meeting each other) both Bach and Handel were blinded by the same Doctor.
x6Ngw TIL that in 1959, an eccentric musician named John Cage composed a piece titled "4'33"," which consists of four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. Just pure silence. No music.
jNlJa TIL Benford's Law dictates that any number occurring in nature (such as the speed of light or the length of a river) is more likely to start with 1 than any other number. There's a 30% chance it will start with 1, and the probability of it being any number from 2 through 9 decreases exponentially.
KYaQ TIL Charlie Sheen once bought 2,615 tickets to a major league baseball game to improve his chances of catching a home run ball..
EVWx TIL ants do not have traffic jams because they don’t have egos, don’t mind collisions, and are very disciplined in crowded pathways