› added 12 years ago

149

TIL dictator Robert Mugabe tried to stop a critic of Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation by levying ridiculous taxes on his newspaper; the writer retaliated with advertisements printed on trillion-dollar-bills, which was cheaper than actual paper.

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0mVL TIL Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison hired a guy to follow his yacht in a powerboat and retrieve basketballs that go overboard.
xV1lw TIL that Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle attended a dinner party held by an editor looking for content. They each promised to contribute to his magazine. The results of that evening? The Picture of Dorian Gray and the second, franchise-cementing Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of Four.
665W TIL that the Chrysler PT Cruiser is actually a truck. Chrysler specifically designed it to fit criteria for a light truck in order to bring the average fuel efficiency of the company’s light truck fleet into compliance with standards.
5Y01k TIL that a research by Harvard scientist suggested that the earth can sustain a maximum population of 10 billion. As of 2020, we are at est 7.8 Billion, almost close to 80% capacity!
xRkD TIL The phrase is actually “Anchor’s Aweigh” not “Away”