epvj4 TIL that Winston Churchill made a speech in the early 1930s in which, among other things, he explained the inefficiency of meat production and promoted lab-grown meat
VBrjp TIL that until the Civil War, American currency was made only the form of silver or gold coins. Though the colonial Continental Congress briefly issued paper currency, it wasn't until 1862 that Congress authorized the use of paper currency as legal tender for any debts
X0Yjr TIL Stan Lee created The X-men as 'mutants' because he didn't want to explain how they got their powers. They were BORN with their powers
OGXjg TIL in the 1978 world chess championship there was accusations of a hypnotherapist being used to rig the game; so 2 Ananda Marga yoga specialists convicted of murder were hired to counter-act him.
69rbW TIL that David Bowie once launched an internet service provider called "BowieNet" in the late 90s.
wogN8 TIL "Millet plus rifles" was a phrase Mao Zedong used to describe the materials and supplies of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). It reflects Mao's view that the inferior PLA equipment was enough to defeat the well-equipped and well-supplied Kuomintang (KMT) soldiers in the Communist Revolution.
R5Pj8 TIL that the English counties of Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire share a border that is approximately 20 yards in length. It is the shortest county border in England.
9wEbQ TIL that George Thorgood's 8 minute version of "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" is actually two John Lee Hooker songs stitched together
W7Bjo TIL that Matthew Broderick had been involved in a fatal car crash in Northern Ireland while vacationing with Jennifer Grey in 1987. Driving on the wrong side of the road, his rented BMW collided head-on with another vehicle, killing a mother and daughter instantly.
nWgw7 TIL the US Navy had Nuclear Battleship shells
4klb6 TIL of Bobby Leach who in 1911, was the first man and second person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. He spent six months recovering from his injuries—only to later die from gangrene after slipping on an orange peel and injuring his leg in 1926.
x6gro TIL Hugo Grotius, the "Father of International Law", wrote De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625), laying the foundation for modern international law by arguing that relations between states should be governed by law, not just power.