› added 7 years ago

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TIL that the FBI used fingerprints to pursue and arrest an innocent Oregon lawyer for the 2004 Madrid bombings, despite Spanish police insisting they were not a match

Read more america.aljazeera.com

via reddit.com

m1pVx TIL that before the California Gold Rush, there was one in North Carolina in 1799! A 12-year-old named Conrad Reed found a 17-pound gold nugget while playing in a creek and used it as a doorstop for three years. When his family realized its value, they started the first gold rush in America!
KOxA6 TIL when the UN's Nordic Battalion was sent to Bosnia in 1993 it disobeyed orders, broke rules of engagement, faked loss of communication to HQ, and became known as one the most trigger-happy peacekeeper units. This enabled them to achieve their mission objective: to protect civilians at all cost.
wLm66 TIL that Hindu genealogy registers are kept by the Pandits in Haridwar, India. Some of them stretch across centuries, tracing family history of up to twenty prior generations. These registers are considered sacrosanct and have been used to settle legal disputes relating to inheritance.
OoDrg TIL oral tradition in Kenya tells that 20 shipwrecked Chinese sailors washed up on shore in the 15th century and were given permission to settle and marry into local tribes. DNA tests conducted by China's government in 2002 on one of the supposed descendants and found that she was of Chinese descent
78WMM TIL about Hydrokinetic energy systems, which utilize water currents. Since ocean currents are partially powered by the Moon's gravity, one can argue that we're developing Lunar Power.