› added 9 years ago

279

TIL: the IRS seized $33,000 from the checking account of a cash-only restaurant owner because she had deposited less than $10,000 at a time, which they viewed as an attempt to avoid triggering a required government report.

Read more nytimes.com

via reddit.com

4xmg TIL: Teddy Roosevelt actually watched Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession in 1865 when he was 6. In fact, there’s a photograph with a young Roosevelt sitting on a balcony as the casket went by.
6EMAl TIL In 1977 Tony Kiritsis held Richard Hall hostage for 63 hours before surrendering, Kiritsis was found not guilty by reason of insanity. At the time of the trial, Indiana law required the prosecution to prove the defendant sane, the law has subsequently changed so defense has to prove insanity.
MedWV TIL that a lasagna can act like a battery, when stored in certain conditions. In a "Lasagna Cell", a steel pan acts as the cathode and an aluminum foil covering as the anode. The foil can get corroded away and form holes where it touches the top of the lasagna.
awR59 TIL that during the American Civil War, several divisions of the confederate army had a large snowball fight. It started when a couple of hundred men from Texas plotted a friendly fight with men from Arkansas, which spiralled into a brawl involving 9,000 soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Bg6YL TIL that In 1969, the first message sent over the ARPANET was supposed to be the word "login." However, the system crashed after only two letters were transmitted, sending just "lo."