› added 4 weeks ago

39

TIL that the BBC has a Pidgin language site for news

Read more bbc.com

via reddit.com

PYw6w TIL After Peter the Great mandated that all officers in his army must have started their career as privates, noble families began to register newborn boys as privates. First reporting for service at the age of 15, the boys were then promoted through seniority to junior lieutenant or equivalent rank
LkjGp TIL - Six Flags used to stage mock Union-spy executions in their Confederate-themed area
ldva TIL that during the American Revolutionary War, Molly Pitcher was so engaged with the cause, that while she was bringing water to her husband at the front, he got killed, she replaced him at the cannons and almost died by an enemy cannonball.
Mob8 TIL the police department of Tenaha, Texas, routinely pulls over drivers from out-of-town and exercises civil asset forfeiture regardless of guilt or innocence, under the threat of felony charges and turning children over to foster services.
K0Dw TIL 1930’s starlet Hedy Lamarr invented a new technology to stop Nazi’s from jamming Navy torpedoes, but the idea was rejected until 1962 and implemented during the Cold War. Her frequency hopping technology is also the basis for modern Bluetooth.