› added 7 years ago

281

TIL Reporters Without Borders list the US as an Enemy of the Internet along with China, Russia, UK, North Korea, Iran and 13 other countries. These countries mark themselves out by their capacity to censor news and information online but also for their almost systematic repression of Internet users

mZdO TIL Spotify pays almost 70% of its revenue to rights holders and has paid out over $500 million in royalties in just 3 years.
4kp0X TIL Early drones were developed during the First World War. These radio controlled planes were primarily for target practice but by 1942 a drone with a built in TV camera was capable of delivering a torpedo to a ship 20 miles from the controller.
KOMLR TIL after losing automatic control of his Mercury capsule, astronaut Gordon Cooper was forced to use his knowledge of constellations, wristwatch, and his eyeballs to manually land his spacecraft. He ended up splashing just 4 miles from his recovery ship, the most accurate landing up to that point.
6Ew67 TIL: Cleopatras' fame as a beautiful seductive master was entirely made by Octavian as a way of explaining how this foreign queen managed to seduce two of Rome's most powerful men, while being described as a beauty, she was best known for her intelligence and charm.
AD7B7 TIL That after a woman died, a multimillion dollar painting she owned was re-assessed at $0 due to it containing part of a bald eagle. In America, it is illegal to buy or sell them without a permit. The IRS disagreed and put a $65M tax on it. But her heirs cannot sell the painting due to the eagle.