› added 3 years ago

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TIL one of the main reasons Haiti is such a poor country. After fighting and winning their independence from France, they were given an ultimatum; They either had to pay France $21 Billion dollars in reparations, or come under attack by the heavily armed warships France had dispatched.

PnmO TIL Star Wars IV a new hope, only cost $11 million to make back in 1977. Adjusted for inflation, that is roughly $40 million today.
4kBdg TIL in February 1941, James O. Richardson was fired after pleading with FDR about his poor decision to centralize the Naval fleet at Pearl Harbor and warning of the risks. Unfortunately, his warning was proven right on December 7th when the Japanese attacked and sunk the fleet.
4Xlpg TIL musician Jim Croce and others died apparently due to a lazy pilot. An investigation showed the plane crashed after clipping a tree at the end of the runway. The pilot had not gained sufficient altitude to clear the tree and had not tried to avoid it, even though it was the only tree in the area.
PVLL TIL Twitch (the video game streaming platform) was originally called Justin.tv which was Justin Kan live streaming his whole life with a camera clipped to his hat and a 30lb backpack that held the computer that would send the data over a cell phone network.
grMO9 TIL By skillful shmoozing(diplomacy), Benjamin Franklin managed to convince the French Court and King Louis XVI to massively support the American Revolution create a Republic; which, in turn virtually bankrupted France and helped lead to the French Revolution....and Louis' demise.