› added 10 years ago

58

TIL shoes were not left or right specific until 1800.

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j64aE TIL there were two thriller movies with Zzyzx in their title, Zzyzx and Zzyzx Road, both released in February 2007. The latter became the lowest grossing movie of all time.
VBW4D TIL the Allies fielded thousands of tanks by the end of World War I, a major technological breakthrough. The Germans deployed just 18.
e0oe6 TIL The US Governments super-secret "interstage material" used for nuclear weapons, known publicly only by its code name Fogbank, has to be manufactured with impurities purposely inserted. It apparently doesn't work if it's too pure.
AXyl TIL Nigerians make up less than 1 percent of the black population in the United States, yet make up one-quarter of the black students at Harvard Business School; over a fourth of Nigerian-Americans have a graduate or professional degree, as compared with only about 11 percent of whites.
d8eO9 TIL that the Somali Pirates had their own stock exchange. Local were encouraged to invest in one of 72 'Maritime Companies', giving weapons, money, or even boats. If the crew that got the weapons successfully attacked a ship and made money, the investor would get a portion of the loot.