› added 1 year ago

47

TIL Richard Nixon's VP Spiro Agnew borrowed $200k ($1.4m today) from Frank Sinatra to pay off tax debts.

Read more baltimoresun.com

via reddit.com

wLjWJ TIL that January 14th is the Feast of the Ass. A Catholic feast day mostly celebrated in the Middle Ages that honors all asses in the Bible, especially the one that bore Mary and the baby Jesus into Egypt after the birth.
JYB0l TIL that the word "ninja" is actually pronounced "shinobi" in the native kun'yomi kanji reading. It is a shortened form of "shinobi-no-mono," which translates closely to "stealthy person." "Ninja" is an on'yomi, a pronunciation of the names of the two Japanese letters that make up the term.
OQw1 TIL According to greek mythology, humans were originally created with 4 arms, 4 legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.
9Yj5G TIL, American pilots flew P-51 Mustangs in Very Long Range misisons operating from the island of Iwo Jima during WW2. These 7+ hour missions involved flying 3 hours across the open Pacific to targets in Japan and then 3+ hours return flight. Threats included bad weather, flak, enemy planes, etc.
e5Gb TIL In 1969, the Army Corps of Engineers accomplished an awesome feat: They turned off Niagara Falls. They did it to clean up the area, and check for structural integrity.