› added 10 years ago

61

TIL the fire hydrant patent was destroyed when the patent office in Washington D.C. caught on fire in 1836

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RbK8 TIL Nazi censors wrote to J.R.R. Tolkien, inquiring whether he was of Jewish decent to see if they needed to ban his books in Germany. Tolkien wrote back saying he wished he could be so lucky.
9omr TIL that the UK illegal cannabis industry is so large at £7 billion that It has to be included in the country’s GDP.
grxYD TIL about the Bascom affair, in which the Apache took 6 American settlers hostage and eventually killed them. The incident lead to a decades long struggle known as the Apache Wars.
4XXPR TIL Shia Labeouf's Big Apology For Plagiarizing His Apologies Was Plagiarized
JYNRm TIL the common poorwill, native to western North America, is the only bird known to go into torpor for extended periods of time.The bird's temperature can drop to as low as 41°F, and their rate of respiration is reduced up to 90%.They can remain in this state of near hibernation for weeks or months.