› added 8 years ago

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TIL the Economist derives most of its revenue from subscriptions because they anticipate advertising will “pretty much go away.” “[The Guardian employs] 964 people. That’s a very, very, very large newsroom. If they think they’re going to fund that with online advertising, I think they’re wrong.”

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Rj47 TIL: John Moses Browning not only designed the M1911 handgun, but also the M2 50 caliber machine gun, the BAR automatic rifle, the 1887 lever action shotgun, the Auto 5 semi-auto shotgun, the Winchester 1894 lever action rifle, and many other designs and calibers.
DQPMp TIL NORAD started tracking Santa Claus when, during the Cold War, a typo in a newspaper lead a 5-year-old to call a top-secret emergency line reserved for the president. The general who answered pretended to be Santa after learning of the kid's mistake.
OGBNL TIL even though Athens was a democracy, and all its adult male citizens were members of the Assembly, many of the city’s offices were filled by lot because election was regarded as undemocratic, since it effectively pronounced some citizens better qualified than others.
KLOJ TIL Harriet Tubman threatened death to escaping slaves if they wanted to turn back. “If he was weak enough to give out, he’d be weak enough to betray us all, and all who had helped us; and do you think I’d let so many die just for one coward man.”
AXow TIL of Jack Churchill - He’s the only man with a confirmed Longbow kill in WWII. He carried a longbow, broadsword, and bagpipes. He played the pipes before battles, and survived the war.