› added 5 years ago

128

TIL about the "hijacking" of the oil tanker, Brillante Virtuoso in the Gulf of Aden in 2011. There pirate attack left the ship heavily damaged and it was scrapped. The owner attempted a $100 mil insurance claim, one of the primary inspectors was killed in a car bomb, others were harassed.

Read more getpocket.com

via reddit.com

9YnNr TIL that Cyrillic (the alphabet used to write Russian) wasn't created by Greek monks Cyrill and Methodius. They created the Glagolitic script. A disciple of theirs created Cyrillic with a few Glagolitic letters.
JYZW4 TIL that the three obelisks in London, Paris and New York that are known as “Cleopatra’s Needle” were actually a thousand years old by the time of the reign of the Ptolemaic pharaoh from whom they get their name.
NX7P8 TIL During the 1930 Indianapolis 500, Chet Miller's car had suffered suspension failure and was not allowed to continue until it was fixed. With no parts on hand, mechanics went to a spectator's car in the infield, and took parts off of it. Then replaced them post race without the owner knowing.
e0VgL TIL Zappos offers new employees $1,000 to quit, after just one week on the job! This strategy is used to create a team of dedicated employees who buy into the customer first culture they want to foster.
9YMN7 TIL that Keanu Reeves was part of an alternative rock group called Dogstar. The genesis of the band was a chance encounter between Robert Mailhouse and Reeves at a supermarket when the 2 men started talking about hockey and Keanu asked Mailhouse if he needed a goalie.