the world's tallest man-made structure was the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, which held the position for over 3800 years until the construction of Lincoln Cathedral in 1311.

Man-made…. Sure

The two occasions during WW2 when German and American troops fought together.

1. Operation Cowboy in Apr. 1945. The rescue of Lippizaner breeding mares from Hostau (now Czech Republic)

2. The Battle of Castle Itter in May 1945. The rescue of high-profile French prisoners being held in Castle Itter, Austria.

In 1867 there were eight artificial ice plants in the entire United States. Three of which were in San Antonio.

haha....nice coincidence!

Well, A New History of Old Texas just did an episode on it back in July if you're interested!

Interesting factoid that Jefferson, Texas claims to have had the 1st ice factory in Texas in 1875, with a Texas state marker to boot. However it was a mechanical ammonia compression plant as opposed to an ammonia vapor absorption system invented by Ferdinand Carre' in 1858. The Carre' invention was used in the first San Antonio ice machine in 1862.

there is a waffen SS soldier buried in Arlington National Cemetery
he fought Russians with the Finnish army, then after Finland was part of the German ww2 expansion, fought them as a waffen ss soldier, and after ww2 came to the US and fought in Vietnam as a green beret.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri_Törni

Pat Sajak served in the U.S. Army as a disc jockey during the Vietnam War for American Forces Vietnam Network.[6] He hosted the same Dawn Buster radio show that Adrian Cronauer had, and for 14 months, followed Cronauer's tradition of signing on with "Good Morning Vietnam!"

Jim Morrison's father, Admiral James Morrison was in charge of the 5th carrier division at the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

Finland was not part of Germany's WWII expansion. It remained independent and aligned with Germany against Russia, which had invaded Finland prior to the outbreak of German-Russian combat.

correct. I couldn't recall the exact terms, but the main point being he hated commies enough he joined the Waffen SS To fight them again.

Going back only 10 generations, 512 couples had to meet, have a kid, and that kid had to survive until they were able to conceive and birth a child of their own.

If any of those 1024 people died before their kid was conceived, then you don't exist. At 20 generations you're over a million individuals.

This one blew my mind:l when I first heard it:

Galileo could have taught at Harvard.

Until then, I always thought Galileo was further back in time.

Lincoln and Darwin were born the same day. Feb 12, 1809.

Texas Yarddog said:

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This one blew my mind:l when I first heard it:

Galileo could have taught at Harvard.

Until then, I always thought Galileo was further back in time.

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The thing I took from this is that Harvard is way older than I thought it was.

In the Pacific Theater during WWII, the date April 18 seems to be rather significant:

In 1942, James Doolittle leads the Raiders to bombing locations across Japan by launching B-25 Mitchell medium bombers from the deck of the USS Hornet.

In 1943, Operation Vengeance happens, where US code breakers had determined where a flight conveying Admiral Yamamoto to Bougainville would happen. A squadron of longer-range P-38 Lightning fighters intercepted the admiral's flight and shot him down into the island jungle.

there's a statue of Washington I'm trafalgar square. it's on soil from Virginia, in order to keep his word that he would never step foot on British soil.

the landsdown portrait of Washington in the east room was commissioned by the UK prime Minister in 1796, during Washington's second term. that's pretty impressive of the respect that the English had for washington. especially since he was also the prime Minister when America declared independence.

Oxford was formed before the Aztec empire was.

Speaking of Lincoln, he was apparently quite the wrestler. Had something like 300 matches and lost once. Think he is in the wrestling hall of fame.

The former US Embassy site in London was located on Grosvenor Square.

In the 1950s the US government asked the Duke of Westminster if they could purchase the property where they intended to build their new Embassy.

The Duke's trustee "indicated that it would be possible to buy the freehold on one condition; namely that the lands confiscated at the end of the American War of Independence be returned to the Grosvenor family. The Ambassador decided not to push ahead with buying the freehold".

Clearly the Duke was generous as the estate agreed instead to the annual rent of one peppercorn.
This enamel box contains gifts from a previous US ambassador to the Duke of Westminster, so they really are the actual rent paid!

In 2018 the US embassy moved to Vauxhall, as the old site could not be upgraded for security measures.

The leashold/freehold thing was pretty bonkers to me as a concept when I was living there.

Jabin said:

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Wasn't the Grosvenor Square Embassy the only US embassy in the world located on land that the US did not own?

Also, the Grosvenor family is one of the wealthiest families in Great Britain, so their loss of their US holdings after the Revolution apparently did not set them back too badly.

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I've been down a rabbit hole since I posted that above. Yes to the first and yes to the second.
They own a large chunk of west London going back in parts to William the Conqueror.

I have been trying to locate the estate lands Lord Ricard Grosvenor held in the colonies. It was 12,000 acres of east Florida. One spot said it was located in the Miami area but that is good as I can nail it.


By the way Miami is the only major US city founded by a woman. Julia Tuttle

Another one that I found a few days ago that was a bit surprising:

World freight tonnage on steamships did not surpass sailing ships until 1893.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence. James Monroe died on the same day exactly five years later.

And they each mentioned the other with their dying words.

In the 1920s and 1930s there was a daredevil named Ray Woods who made himself famous by diving from high points, mainly bridges. He successfully jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge three times and the Aurora Bridge in Seattle, among others. His last jump, from the Oakland Bay Bridge, went badly wrong and he was seriously injured, but survived.

In 1942 he drowned in a river after falling into the water from a fishing boat.

YokelRidesAgain said:

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In the 1920s and 1930s there was a daredevil named Ray Woods who made himself famous by diving from high points, mainly bridges. He successfully jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge three times and the Aurora Bridge in Seattle, among others. His last jump, from the Oakland Bay Bridge, went badly wrong and he was seriously injured, but survived.

In 1942 he drowned in a river after falling into the water from a fishing boat.

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Let it never be said that the universe lacks a sense of irony.

Fun fact that's daredevil related: Houdini was the first man to fly a powered plane in Australia.