› added 6 years ago

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TIL that Oliver North solicited $10,000,000 from the Sultan of Brunei as a way around US rules on funding Contras in Nicaragua. The money never went to them, but to a Swiss businessman instead because North entered the wrong bank account number.

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via reddit.com

Pg TIL: There is team attire for the Gotham Rogues, made by Under Armour
Nl5N TIL that David Barrett, an aeronautics engineer who resigned abruptly after seeing a vision of Jesus, spent 40 years single-handedly compiling the first and only complete list of Earth’s 10,000 existing religions and 33,830 denominations of Christianity. This led him to all 238 countries on Earth.
nemjP TIL in Aztec mythology, giving birth was seen as a woman's battle with the gods to win her child's life. Mothers who succeeded were celebrated, while women who died in childbirth were thought to become vampiric monsters called Cihuateteo, which stole other women's children.
ypoa TIL that the Secret Service was originally founded to suppress counterfeit currency in 1865 and later on in 1902, the Secret Service started to protect the president.
78WZO TIL that people with a rare genetic disorder called Xerodermia pigmentosum cannot sustain ultraviolet light. So, if exposed to the sun, they will get a severe sunburn. These people also face freckling, dry skin, and changes in skin pigmentation. They are a high risk group for skin cancer.