› added 11 months ago

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TIL of the Battle of the Porpoises, a military blunder during WWI where the Brazilian Navy slaughtered a herd of porpoises after mistaking them for German U-boats

yVrel TIL that the famous plane hijacker known as D. B. Cooper was jokingly asked by a flight attendant on duty during the hijacking if he would give her some of his ransom money. He happily offered her some, but she declined citing the airline's policy against accepting tips from passengers.
nemMo TIL Grave robbers target confederate soldiers in the United States. Items can be sold at high prices to antique collectors. Button from confederate uniform ($150); full uniforms and medals ($500+); swords used by generals ($20,000+).
GV84 TIL A robbery suspect fled into a darkened movie theater to escape pursuing police. He became so engrossed in the movie playing on screen, Robocop, that he failed to notice that police had evacuated all other patrons from the theater. When the lights came on he was taken into custody.
ROr9 TIL Kevin Smith, funded his first film Clerks, by maxing out several credit cards and selling most of his comic book collection and using most of his college fund along with insurance money from a car he lost in a flood just to pay for a film it at a convenience store he worked at.
EQYP TIL a private company dumped 100 tonnes of iron sulphate off the coast of Canada to promote the growing of plankton capable of absorbing carbon-dioxide from the air. It is the world’s most significant geoengineering project to date.