› added 7 years ago

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TIL James Longstreet, one of the most skilled confederate generals in the civil war, later felt so guilty that he became a civil rights advocate and led a militia of black soldiers. Today he is remembered as a traitor in the South

p8PEp TIL that on 5 May 2000 two young Filipino programmers created the Iloveyou virus that attacked tens of millions of Windows personal computers causing US$5.5–8.7 billion in damages worldwide. Since there were no laws in the Phils. against writing malware at the time the two were released.
6E5KX TIL 'White Boy Rick', sentenced as a minor to life in prison for possessing 8 kilos of cocaine after exposing crooked cops as the FBI's youngest informant was recently denied early release in Florida for no reason.
78m8b TIL In 2000 Performer Uri Geller sued the sued video game company Nintendo for £60 million over the Pokémon species "Kadabra", which he claimed was an unauthorized appropriation of his identity since he was well known for bending spoons in his act.
KOOra TIL that a sequel to Freddy vs Jason was planned, with Ash Williams from Evil Dead killing Freddy off once and for all. The project was scrapped for several reasons, namely creative differences and New Line being hesitant to kill off Freddy for good.
wLMoW TIL Steve Martin and Martin Short both turned down the role of Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber. Originally the Farrelly Brothers didn't know who Jim Carrey was and were only told that he was "The White Guy" on In Living Color.