› added 11 years ago

108

TIL Anwar Sadat of Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979, the first Arab nation to do so. For this, Sadat won the Nobel Peace prize, Egypt was suspended from the Arab League, and Sadat was assassinated.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

oBN67 TIL the origin of the phrase “hold a candle to”. When a craftsman and their apprentice would work in the dark, and the apprentice would hold a candle so the master could see. Telling someone they can’t even hold a candle for you, let alone do the complicated job you’re doing, is insulting.
BgboD TIL the first snowboarders in the 1960s were often kicked off ski resorts for being “too unruly” and “dangerous to skiing culture.” It wasn’t until the late 1980s that most resorts fully accepted snowboarding.
D14PY TIL that Milton Hershey kept his employees working during the Great Depression by having them construct buildings in Hershey, PA including a school, arena and hotel. When a steam shovel was brought in for construction, Hershey told his foreman to get rid of the shovel and hire 40 men instead.
D1Wdj Today I learned one particular toy army soldier was not depicting a berserk bayoneting but simply crossing a stream.
R7r71 TIL That Despite it consistently ranking among the lowest in GDP per capita, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has an estimated $24 trillion in untapped minerals, having 70% of the world's coltan, a third of it's cobalt, over 30% of its diamond reserves, and a tenth of its copper.