› added 12 years ago

97

TIL Jimmy Carter saved beer by deregulating the entire beer industry

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4XPZ6 TIL there are seven species of perching birds named "attilas" after Attila the Hun (due to their very predatory and aggressive nature, despite their small size). Attilas are in the family Tyrannidae (the tyrant flycatchers).
MeoWB TIL that for decades the CIA owned and ran Crypto, a Swiss company that supplied cryptography equipment to many countries; naturally, the machines were rigged to give US spooks access to everyone's communications.
Wk6Z8 TIL Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. President to be born in a hospital. (1924)
gMXPW TIL Quebec "unofficially" got rid of Slavery in 1798, 35 years before it was abolished, because the Chief of Justice couldn't find any laws to punish an escaped slave named Charlotte who refused to return to her master- so he set her free. Other slaves found out and started doing the same thing.
W7JrB TIL 18 year old Milton Olive III saved the lives of 4 soldiers by grabbing a grenade that was thrown in their midst and falling on it to absorb the blast with his body. Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, he was the first African American recipient from the Vietnam War.