› added 9 years ago

797

TIL when David Bowie wanted walk around in New York without being bothered, he simply carried a greek newspaper, so that people would think “no, that can’t be him”.

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8eEVX TIL of phantom islands, an island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. Commonly the result of navigational errors, mistaken observations, or deliberate fabrication, some have remained on maps for centuries before being "un-discovered".
W7DMX TIL about Henry Wickham, the English "bio-pirate" who broke Brazil's global rubber monopoly in 1876 by smuggling 70,000 seeds to London. He lied to customs, and the resulting Asian plantations crashed the Brazilian economy.
xA5b TIL the engineer who designed the Japanese Kamikaze dive-bombing planes of WWII felt bad about his role in the war, so at its end, he decided to use his skills for peace by designing the body of the Shinkansen (Bullet Train), which has, to this day, operated with zero accident-caused fatalities.
X05pR TIL Teófilo Stevenson, widely regarded as the greatest Olympic boxer of all time, was offered a million dollars to defect from Cuba and fight heavyweight world champion Muhammad Ali. Stevenson declined, asking "What is one million dollars compared to the love of eight million Cubans?"
AM8n TIL The Dead Kennedys recorded a song called “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” in response to skinheads who mistook them for a neo-nazi group due to the title of the song “California Über Alles”