/f/todayilearned
TIL, Students at the Hillcrest Primary School were celebrating their last day of school by jumping inside of a bounce house when a strong gust of wind blew the bounce house 33 feet into the air with the children still inside causing 6 of them to die after falling out.
cnn.comSubmitted by longer_than_hallways t3_yxt32a
Submitted by SlowShoes t3_ynto5d
TIL in 1987, Arizona governor Evan Mecham revoked the executive order recognizing MLK Day in the state. He told black organizers "You folks don't need another holiday. What you folks need are jobs." Then an awkwardly-worded ballot to recognize the holiday failed, so the NFL moved SB 27 out of Tempe.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by R4G t3_yn1ymv
TIL about William Sitgreaves Cox a junior officer aboard the USS Chesapeake who was court martialed for leaving his command when he assisted his wounded captain below decks. Since all other senior officers were wounded, he had become the commanding officer by default, unbeknownst to him.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by ClownfishSoup t3_yjp7v6
TIL that in the 1960s, the US roasted a 1440-acre swath of Wisconsin forest with ~10,000 curies of radiation for 6 months in order to determine how it affected the area. Most of the damage was confined to the area directly adjacent to the source, and the area is completely non-hazardous today.
orangebeanindiana.comSubmitted by BeeIsBack t3_yb10hh
Submitted by amazem t3_y6gkl7
TIL General Hancock chose to sacrifice an entire regiment to save the Union Army during the Civil War. The 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment, 250 men, was ordered to charge a brigade of roughly 1200 men. They suffered a staggering 82% casualties; the largest loss by any surviving U.S unit in a day.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by ChronosBlitz t3_y5q6ka
TIL in the 2006 documentary "This Film is Not Yet Rated" the director hired detectives to uncover the identities of the MPAA ratings & appeal boards, revealing that the former received very little training for rating films, and the latter consisted of studio/theater execs - as well as two clergymen
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by CaptainJZH t3_y2nn0f