› added 11 years ago

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TIL Martin Luther King Jr. was wiretapped and sent an anonymous letter from J Edgar Hoover encouraging him to kill himself

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8a5vZ TIL that Navajo language was used in the WWII by the U.S. Armed Forces in the Pacific to encrypt communications. They simply had Navajo Indians talking to each other, and since the language is exceedingly complex and has no written form, not a single person in Japan knew anything about it.
Mnj8 TIL due to a Copyright error that was just discovered in 2015, the Happy Birthday song had been falsely copyrighted for 80 years
0d1xA TIL Ben Stiller developed the premise for Tropic Thunder while shooting Empire of the Sun. He wanted to make a film based on the actors he knew who became "self-important" & appeared to believe they had been part of a real military unit after taking part in boot camps to prepare for war film roles.
kjnE TIL that 78% of NFL players are either bankrupt or commit suicide within two years of retirement.
8eGvG TIL Junk e-mail is called spam because early internet users referenced a Monty Python skit. Hormel unsuccessfully sued to prevent companies calling junk mail spam. In 2006 they sponsored Spamalot, embracing the humor of Spam