/f/todayilearned
TIL that an area in Texas is called "The Texas Killing Fields." Since the early 1970s roughly 30 bodies have been extracted from the fields, mainly consisting of young girls. The fields have been described as "a perfect place for killing somebody and getting away with it."
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by Deafwindow t3_1188be5
TIL that George Washington signed the 1794 Slave Trade Act, which banned U.S. ships from participating in the Atlantic Slave Trade, as well as forbid the exportation of slaves for foreign sale. It was the first major piece of legislation against slavery passed by the United States government.
battlefields.orgSubmitted by HawkeyeTen t3_118zkj4
TIL that the library career of the creator of the Dewey Decimal system, Melvil Dewey ended in disgrace, because of his groping of female librarians. Dewey also insisted on seeing photographs of the women before he would hire them, to determine if they were attractive or not.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by VengefulMight t3_11dmsuc
Submitted by [deleted] t3_11dz2hp
TIL about the Thalidomide scandal in the 1950s and 1960s, which resulted in thousands of children being born with severe birth defects after their mothers took the drug during pregnancy, leading to increased regulation of pharmaceuticals worldwide.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by Lylah_Love t3_11fpdrx
TIL that bed bugs have no courtship rituals. What they have, instead, is a type of mating behavior called traumatic insemination. That is, a male will simply climb onto a female, stab her in the side of her body with his hypodermic penis, and release his sperm into her body cavity.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by nomoniker t3_11k2qp0
TIL Roman concrete structures such as the Pantheon and aqueducts are ultra durable because of lime clasts. While many modern concrete structures crumble after a few decades, Roman concrete has self-healing functionality from lime clasts which allow their structures to survive millennia.
news.mit.eduSubmitted by The_Ry_Ry t3_11k322u
TIL that several people have been caught cheating on game shows throughout history. One of the most notable cases involved Charles Ingram, who cheated his way to winning the jackpot on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" by having an accomplice cough to indicate the correct answer.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by theID10T t3_11kbkih
TIL in 2001, Disneyland tried to re-theme their aging "Submarine Voyage" attraction around Atlantis: The Lost Empire, but the movie flopped. They tried again with Treasure Planet, but that was a flop too. They finally succeeded with Finding Nemo in 2005.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by AirborneRodent t3_11rld6q
TIL just like in the Tarantino film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, Sharon Tate really did have a habit of going barefoot in Los Angeles. When she went to restaurants with a "No Shoes, No Service" rule, she would frequently put rubber bands around her ankles to pretend that she was wearing sandals.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by waitingforthesun92 t3_11szfa0
TIL that Liza Minelli, daughter of Judy Garland, the actress who played Dorothy in the 1939 MGM film, “Wizard of Oz,” was once married to Jack Haley, Jr., son of Jack Haley, the actor who played the Tin Man in the same film. He was Minnelli’s 2nd husband.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by TheMadIrishman327 t3_120kisk
TIL: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers drained Niagra Falls in 1969. It ended up attracting more visitors than any other feat attempted at the falls. The engineers wanted to find a way to remove the unseemly boulders that had piled up at its base since 1931, cutting the height of the falls in half...
smithsonianmag.comSubmitted by floof_mcgenius t3_120pskx