› added 4 years ago

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TIL that FDR had a massive 750 lb globe on the floor behind his desk in the Oval Office. During WWII, he used the 4 ft wide globe to trace troop movements and plan military strategy with his advisors.

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wLXo7 TIL Mark Ruffalo was set to appear in the movie Signs, but had to drop out when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. His part went to Joaquin Phoenix. The brain tumor turned out to be benign. Following surgery, he suffered from a partial facial paralysis for a few weeks, eventually fully recovering.
9Y1m7 TIL of how the U.S. Government set up the first bank for "newly emancipated Black communities" after the Civil War; but in the 1870s, Henry Cooke & Ulysses S. Grant got away with scamming the Freedman's Bank out of $75,000 ($1.77M in 2020), crippling the bank into bankruptcy...
W7oPB TIL a US law firm set up honeypots on torrent-sharing site The Pirate Bay and then sued people who downloaded their torrents. The matter reached the FBI and the pirate site accepted to collaborate with the feds resulting in the crooked lawyers getting jail time.
5YGdQ TIL that the coat evolved from padding known as the doublet that protected the skin of knights from chafing by armor or chainmail. Around the 14th Century, it became fashionable for nobles to wear the doublet as an outer garment as if perhaps they had just come from the battlefield.
14pr TIL a federal court in California ruled earlier this year that a lawsuit against Facebook can proceed. The suit claims Facebook is illegally collecting biometric data from people “tagged” in photos posted by other users.