› added 9 years ago

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TIL that in 1799 Aaron Burr raised $2mil to provide drinking water to Manhattan. He used $1.9mil of that to found a bank instead, and the water he did provide was often contaminated. NYC did not have a clean water source until 1842. The bank he founded is now known as JPMorgan Chase.

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j88p TIL that ‘Tommy Boy’ is actually an update of Shakespeare’s 'Hamlet’: Tommy is the Prince, his father dies, his mother (Bo Derek) is Gertrude, in reality married to his “step brother” (Rob Lowe) who is Claudius. David Spade’s character is Horatio.
xVEYw TIL Robert Reed, the father from The Brady Bunch, was gay but never came out publicly in fear of ruining his career and the show
m1aXy TIL, Internet Protocol had been successfully implemented in Birds (IP Over Avian Carriers, RFC 1149) with 9 packets of data, 55% packet loss ratio, and 3000000-6000000ms response time (to put into perspective, typical fiber latency is 12-15ms, at least a 20000000% increase).
N7kbM TIL Bulls are colorblind, and can't see the color red, it is the movement that angers them during matador fights. The reason behind the color red is so that the blood spilled is less visible.
QYwa TIL At the time of the Battle of Britain (1940) several nations had functioning radar systems (inc. Germany) but it was the British ‘Dowding system’ that allowed positions of enemy planes to be relayed to fighters in the air, resulting in interception rates of >90% and turning the tide of the war.