A couple of Chinese cities were flooded to make a lake, and they were forgotten for more than 40 years!

The Qiandao Lake (Thousand Island Lake) is located in Zhejiang China. It's an artificial lake that was made in 1959 after the Chinese completed a hydroelectric power station. To make it, they flooded a valley that was 573 sq km. The lake got its name because it is dotted with 1078 large islands and a few thousand smaller ones.

Although the water from the reservoir is used to make mineral water, it has recently been turned into a tourist attraction because people remembered that there were a couple of cities that were flooded to make way for the reservoir!

Shi Cheng and He Cheng were ancient cities that were built over 1300 years ago and were large business hubs along the Xin'anjiang river. The cities, along with many other towns that were also flooded were forgotten for 40 years until a local tourism office thought up a way to make them into a tourist attraction.

There are currently a bunch of plans in the works, like scuba diving tours or even submarine tours, but the brittle condition the walls could be in is a concern. Check more pics and info on the plans at the source.

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Humans haven't been reading silently for that long!

It seems strange to think about, but silent reading is a relatively new development in human history. Ancient ready was oral: aloud, in groups or individually in a muffled voice. One of the big reasons for silent reading coming about was a change in writing style. Before, words were not separated when written down; once we invented spaces, we started reading silently.

The first manuscripts with separated words come from Irish scribes in the 7th and 8th centuries, but not spread to Europe until the late 10th century. Why did it take so long? Reading was such a social activity, that making things easier to reed and having more people be able to read were not seen as advantages. For more information, check the source!

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In comic books, Superman gave Batman a kryptonite ring in case he went rogue and needed to be stopped!

You’re probably wondering why the most powerful man in the universe would ever voluntarily give his only weakness to another person, but the answer is actually quite interesting. In one comic book, the Superman and Batman team up to solve the mystery of a series of deaths related to Lex Luthor’s stolen kryptonite ring.

After a series of exciting escapades and the solving of the crime, Superman gets the ring back from Luthor and instead of having it destroyed gives it to Batman for safe keeping. The reason? Superman isn’t sure whether he will stay good in the course of his lifetime, and in the event of him going rogue, he wants to ensure there is a force of good strong enough to defeat him.

Before you roll your eyes and say Superman is incorruptible, there are several stories in which he either switches bodies with someone and nearly destroys the world or has a mental breakdown and goes berserk. To prevent catastrophes like this, Superman voluntarily preserves his only Achilles heel! Would you do the same thing if given the chance? Tell us in comments!

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President Ulysses S. Grant tried to annex the Dominican Republic to protect African Americans from the KKK!

President was worried for the southern African Americans who were being terrorized by the Klu Klux Klan. In 1869, he tried to annex “Santo Domingo” for the United States of American to acquire the Dominican Republic as a U.S. territory and given the opportunity for statehood. 

He thought the island could be a safe haven for the African Americans and he thought the island could be a great source of revenue with its fertile soil and mineral resources. President Grant also hoped that the move would rid Brazil of slavery.

He ordered for two of his men to negotiate a treaty with the President of the Dominican Republic and for the U.S. Navy to protect the island during negotiations. On President Baez’s behalf, he thought it was the best move for his country and that they would have a better market to sell their goods in by agreeing to the annexation. 

He also believed the Island needed protection that the U.S. could offer, since their history was riddled with being taken over and colonized. Ultimately the Senate shot the treaty down and ended the whole thing. 

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The man who's third in succession for the US presidency once pried a live grenade from his almost severed arm and then threw it at his attacker!

Daniel Inouye, is the senior US Senator from Hawaii and third in succession for presidency of the United States. Oh, and it doesn’t just stop there; this guy is a goldmine for amazing facts. He’s also the highest-ranking Asian American politician in American history, the 2nd longest serving US senator in history, and the first Japanese American to serve in the US House of Representatives. 

Inouye was a second lieutenant during World War 2. On April 21 1945, he was leading an assault on a heavily-defended ridge in Tuscany, Italy that served as a strongpoint along the strip of German fortification known as the Gothic Line. When he stood up to attack, he was shot in the stomach but ignored the wound and continued fighting and leading his troops. 

When Inouye lifted his arm to throw his last grenade into the fighting position, a German inside fired a rifle grenade that struck him on the right elbow and severed most of his arm and left his own grenade “clenched in a first that suddenly didn’t belong to me anymore.” As the inside reloaded his rifle, Inouye pried the live grenade from his useless right hand and into his left, and then threw it into the bunker with the German Inside. 

He got up one more, but was instantly shot in the leg, and finally fell unconscious. When he briefly awoke as he was being carried away, he ordered his worried men to return to their positions since “nobody called off the war!” 

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