› added 5 years ago

401

TIL that the first thing that was ever bought and sold over the internet was weed. In 1971 or 1972, Stanford students using Arpanet accounts at Stanford's AI Laboratory engaged in a commercial transaction with their counterparts at MIT, and thus the first act of e-commerce was a pot deal.

Read more fastcompany.com

via reddit.com

W7j8B TIL that the “longest flight” lasted for 64 days. It was called the Hacienda, and it was possible because of constant refueling
XErBR TIL of Orestes Lorenzo, a Cuban fighter pilot who defected to the US. He flew to Florida in a MiG-23 and requested his family join him, when his family were banned from leaving Cuba he raised money to buy a plane. He then flew back to Cuba, landed on a highway an bought his family back himself.
PDKO TIL that before his death, Phil Hartman had expressed an interest in making a live action film about his popular Simpsons character Troy McClure. Many of The Simpsons production staff expressed enthusiasm for the project and offered to help.
bZNj TIL on August 16, 1942, a military blimp left San Francisco bay on a routine submarine-spotting mission. A few hours later, the airship wandered back over land and crashed with nobody aboard. Life rafts and other rescue gear had not been touched, and the fate of the 2-man crew has never been solved.
JYAPV TIL that Bob Barker stepped down as host of Miss USA/Universe pageants after 20 years after his request that fur prizes for the contestants be removed was refused. Following his wife's death Barker became a staunch advocate for animal rights.