› added 1 year ago

289

TIL the ‘70s fascination with truckers as anti-government modern cowboys started when an advertising executive invented C.W. McCall, a folksy trucker character, for a bread ad. He recorded country music using McCall as a stage name, and his #1 hit, “Convoy,” spawned a movie by the same name.

Read more thedrive.com

via reddit.com

awXDN TIL Air bags are not inflated from some compressed gas source but rather from the products of a chemical reaction. The chemical at the heart of the air bag reaction is called sodium azide, or NaN3.
W7vn8 TIL that in the US, 75 percent of truck owners use their truck for towing one time a year or less. Nearly 70 percent of truck owners go off-road one time a year or less. And a full 35 percent of truck owners use their truck for hauling once a year or less.
QJKL6 TIL that in 2014, a teacher and Education Blogger was fired for writing a blog post about homophones. The staff said he was fired because people would think the post had something to do with homosexuality.
KYokG TIL in 1807, Aaron Burr attempted to lead a secessionist movement in the United States. Though his aims were unclear, with speculation ranging from conquering Mexico to taking the Louisiana Purchase, he was charged and ultimately acquitted due to lack of specific evidence of his ultimate goal.
5YjJn TIL: In an Irish WWII POW camps. Prisoners were allowed leave the camp for Pub visits, dances with the locals, fishing, golfing trips and fox hunts. On the condition that they promised not to escape.