› added 12 years ago

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TIL that the Roman Emperor Caligual once declared war on Posiden by ordering his army to head to the beach and start stabbing the water.

xVAkk TIL that Elvis, two months after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, recorded a live tribute song featuring direct quotes of MLK called "If I Can Dream" and overruled his manager to perform it as the finale to his comeback special over "I'll Be Home for Christmas"
KOrEw TIL The World Mosquito Project scientists cultivate and release mosquitoes infected with a bacterium called Wolbachia. The bacterium is passed down to future generations. The bacterium appears to block mosquitos from transmitting arboviruses (dengue, chikungunya & yellow fever) & Zika
BBjx TIL: that when the Mongol army was withering from the 14th century bubonic plague epidemic, they decided to catapult their infected corpses over city walls before invading. This is considered one of the first acts of biological warfare
78rQP TIL of 'Truck Wages' or 'Company Scrip, where an employer will pay employees in company minted money that is only redeemable in company owned stores. It is referenced in the sea shanty 'Wellerman' and the last company to get sued for using it was Walmart Mexico.
brwN TIL during the filming of ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, production designer Ken Adam called up his old boss Stanley Kubrick for advice on how to light the inside of an enormous tanker ship, the villain’s secret lair. Kubrick snuck in on a Sunday morning for four hours to set the lighting up himself.