› added 6 years ago

71

TIL that in ancient Athenian democracy leaders where chosen by a form of lottery as it was felt that if voting was used the rich and powerful would have unfair advantages to influence voters.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

GAkEJ TIL about Shi Yousan, a Chinese general who defected to, and subsequently betrayed, Feng Yuxiang, Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Jingwei, Zhang Xueliang, the CPC, and Japan, in that order. Eventually, when he attempted to defect to Japan again, he himself was betrayed and executed by a subordinate.
6ERWw TIL the first generation of Mexican drug smugglers were Chinese-Mexican opium farmers from Sinaloa
e0jO4 TIL boxer James Scott was a potential light heavyweight champion while in Rahway State Prison. Three of his professional fights were televised from inside the prison.
bEpZ TIL Rage Against The Machine was told to censor their song, “Killing In The Name” when playing it live on the BBC. They started out censoring it, but towards the end of the song “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!” was repeated 5 times live before the BBC shut off the broadcast.
eVnb TIL that if he were alive today, J.D. Rockefeller would be worth 663.4 billion dollars.