› added 10 years ago

293

TIL that it is still technically possible to obtain a Letter of Marque from Congress and become a privateer.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

ADvLo TIL Squirrels are the “King of the power outages” being the #1 cause of animal related outages in the US
YpowA TIL that writing by hand increases children's brain activity and makes them smarter
Z8k0Y TIL That the bulk of quotations in the Oxford English Dictionary were contributed by a murderer who severed his own penis, using a knife he had employed in his work on the dictionary.
7rgp7 TIL an Australian man was working as a hairdresser when he had the idea to make 3D printed prosthetic limbs from recycled shampoo and conditioner bottles. Working with 38 salons in Queensland, he is now testing the limbs with two children who had no access to practical and inexpensive prosthetics.
5Y5oR TIL Monty Python member Terry Gilliam was author J.K Rowling’s first choice to direct the first Harry Potter movie, but was rejected for Chris Columbus. inan interview he said “I was the perfect guy to do Harry Potter… I mean, Chris Columbus’ versions are terrible. Just dull. Pedestrian”