› added 12 years ago

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TIL Warren Buffet bought controlling stock of Berkshire Hathaway to fire the president because of a personal grudge. Buffett estimates this cost him $200b over 45 years in lost investments.

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NXjB6 TIL that measles is descended from rinderpest, a cattle disease eradicated by humans. A single outbreak in Africa from 1982–1984 destroyed $2 billion dollars in value, while the price of eliminating rinderpest globally was $5 billion.
1lQP TIL that democide, or the killing of people by their government, surpassed war as the number one non-natural cause of death in the 20th century
VMJd4 TIL of the Man in the Iron Mask. An unidentified prisoner held for 34 years, until his death in 1703, who was forced to wear a mask to ensure no one knew his true identity. His cell had multiple doors so no one could listen; if he spoke of anything other than his immediate needs he would be killed.
wLaA1 TIL Blondie’s ‘Rapture’ (1981) is credited as the first rap song to ever top the US charts
D1ErP TIL that the barge 'Akademik Lomonosov' in the Russian Far East is the world's first floating nuclear power station. It is also the world's northernmost nuclear power plant.