› added 1 year ago

52

TIL that one of the earliest hang gliders was invented in 1853 by George Cayley who created a slope-launched, piloted glider.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

5VyEQ TIL that six weeks after the atomic bomb destroyed the city of Nagasaki, American service members played a football game among the ruins of the city. The game was dubbed "The Atom Bowl".
9KXQ TIL: In Wales in 1950 a man was wrongfully executed for the murder of his wife and daughter. It is the reason capital punishment is outlawed in the UK today
BQlk TIL that contrary to popular belief, King Mongkut of Siam’s proposed gift of elephants to Abraham Lincoln was not meant to be used to combat the Confederacy, but rather to create a feral pack of elephants in the US for future use.
b6jMp TIL that the Saturn brand of cars ceased manufacturing in 2010. GM attempted to sell the brand to Penske, but the deal failed when Penske wouldn’t use Saturn’s factories and no automotive manufacturers would agree to build Saturn brand cars.
AMvo TIL that there is a 500-year-old statue of a man eating a sack of babies in Bern, Switzerland — Nobody is sure why.