› added 12 years ago

166

TIL That Herbert Hoover and his wife learned Mandarin when living in China during the Boxer Rebellion, and would speak it in the White House to foil eavesdroppers.

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0wryy TIL: Beer bottles used to be kept in clear glass bottles in the 19th century until brewers realized UV rays from the sun were altering the flavor and making the beer smell "skunky". This is why most beers are kept in brown glass bottles now, it blocks the UV rays from the sun; preserving taste.
Oo5d1 TIL: During the time of the Great Depression, a banker convinced struggling families in Quincy, Florida to buy Coca-Cola shares which traded at $19. Later, the town became the single richest town per capita in the US with at least 67 millionaires.
Bg8Rb TIL Walmart stores receive 3-4 times more police calls than other big-box retailers like Target. In St. Petersburg, FL, 25% of all arrests are made at a single Walmart location, while in Granite Falls, NC, 92% of larceny calls are attributed to a single Walmart store.
x6AQB TIL The oldest flamingo lived to be 83. It arrived at Adelaide Zoo in Australia in 1933 and died in 2014.
JY8rj TIL: That during the design process of the World Trade Center, engineers had considered and done an analysis of a scenario where a jet airliner impacted a tower.