› added 10 years ago

86

TIL In 1910, Marseilles, France was using UV light to disinfect their water.

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WkXmN TIL Häagen-Dazs was created in the 1960s by an American couple living in the Bronx. They used a Danish-sounding name because it conveyed an "aura of the old-world traditions and craftsmanship" and added an umlaut even though that punctuation doesn't exist in the Danish language to make it stand out.
Y1WZ TIL that American mapmakers included a false town to try and catch plagiarism
0wDNA TIL that Chris Farley was originally recorded as the voice of Shrek. There is a video of some dialogue between Shrek and Donkey with some sketches.
jZ9Q TIL Elton John ended up on the new Queens of the Stone Age album after surprising the frontman with a phone call, telling him he needed an “actual queen” on the record.
wLyyJ TIL that the largest ocean liner built entirely in the United States (and designed by an American) is sitting derelict in Philadelphia, PA in danger of becoming scrap.