› added 12 years ago

94

TIL that Cleopatra was Greek, not Egyptian

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oRBPK TIL Yuri Knorozov, a Soviet Officer in the Second World War, went on to become essential in the deciphering of Maya hieroglyphics after finding a book in the German National Library during the end of the war, and taking the statement that "Maya Hieroglyphics were indecipherable" personally.
p8bL4 TIL of Japanese General and Poet, Nogi Maresuke, who took Port Arthur twice - from China (1894) and Russian (1904), sought permission from the emperor to kill himself as felt he lost too many soldiers in battle, was refused, so waited eight years and committed suicide right after the emperor died.
p8dXN TIL that the Bramley apple, a widespread cooking apple, and all of its trees originated from a single tree that was planted by accident 200 years ago. That tree is still alive today
9r5m TIL Bill Gates once unleashed a swarm of mosquitoes into a crowd at a tech conference. Displaying the need to eradicate malaria, he explained to the crowd “there is no reason only poor people should be infected.”
RZy4 TIL A single misplaced comma created a giant legal loophole in the 1972 U.S Tariff Act, costing the government $1,000,000.