› added 12 years ago

469

TIL The IRS has a plan in its employee handbook how to collect taxes following a nuclear attack

Read more nytimes.com

via reddit.com

p00e TIL that although Jewish people make up only 0.2% of the world’s population, they have won over 1/5 of the Nobel prizes since it first began.
p80nN TIL Carl Benz's wife Bertha was the first motorist. In the summer of 1888 Bertha decided to “test drive” the second prototype Motorwagen on a journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim, a distance of more than 50 miles in a single day and left a note for Carl on the kitchen table
9BKQ TIL Tami Erin, the actress who played Pippi Longstocking in 1988, sold a sex tape after her ex-boyfriend threatened to profit from it.
5JpB TIL that a third string catcher, Moe Berg, toured Japan with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in 1934 while working as a US spy. Berg spoke 12 languages and eventually spied on the Nazis during WWII. When presented the report to the president, Roosevelt responded “Give my regards to the catcher.”
8a5wK TIL: ancient Athenians used Sortition (selection by lottery) to appoint public officials from a large pool of candidates. It was a pillar of their democracy. All competent and interested parties had equal chance of holding public office (minimizing Partisanship). Elections, by contrast, foster it..