› added 3 weeks ago

7

TIL: Gavrilo Princep, the man who inadvertently started World War One when he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand was only 19 years-old when he killed the Archduke.

Read more theworldwar.org

via reddit.com

Yp9wd [TIL] that in the 1940's, the US built some locomotives for the USSR. When they were never delivered due to the cold war, they went to US railroads and became some of the most powerful engines of the day.
P1QAG TIL Each year, NASA receives close to 1,000 astronaut appearance requests and there is a specific Astronaut Appearances Office in Houston, Texas. They can't receive honoraria since Federal regulations prevent astronauts from accepting gifts valued greater than $20
V0Z8 TIL that upon his second defeat to Alexander the Great, King Darius III of Persia offered Alexander 30,000 talents (780 tons of silver, worth around £500,000,000 today) as part of an unconditional surrender. Alexander refused and proceeded to conquer Persia and rule all the way up to the Himalayas.
69Ebm TIL mutilation practices (e.g. cutting of hands etc.) did not just occur in the Congo Free State under Leopold II but also in British Sierra Leone, German Kamerun and French Equatorial Africa
oRywA TIL the Pioneer plaque man and woman were originally intended to be shown holding hands, but Carl Sagan soon realized that an extraterrestrial might perceive them as a single creature rather than two organisms.