› added 10 months ago

20

TIL of the only person ever to return a Pulitzer Prize, journalist Janet Cooke, due to her fabricating a story of an 8-year-old heroin addict which triggered a city-wide search

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via reddit.com

dD8dE TIL that in 2019, a man from Gujarat, India, bit a snake after the snake had bitten him. Both he and the snake died.
xnY5 TIL an ancient method of starting fire in SE Asia used a device called a fire piston that used rapidly compressed air to ignite a piece of tinder–the same principle used in diesel engines.
kWk5 TIL the “proof” scale for alcohol was created by 16th century British sailors to describe the strength of their rum rations. Gunpowder soaked with less than 100 proof rum would not burn and was considered unacceptable.
VBQgQ TIL Union Army General John Sedgwick died scolding his men due to them taking cover from sharpshooter fire. Striding around in the open, his last words were “They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."
W7GAN TIL The Moon's Orbit is WEIRD