› added 11 years ago

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TIL That the gold stored in Fort Knox hasn’t been audited in over 60 years despite numerous requests, and some people believe the Fed’s gold stores may not even exist.

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kJpP5 TIL Operation Fantasia. Because a fox-shaped spirit is an omen of doom in Japanese folklore, the U.S. developed a psychological warfare campaign during WWII that included a plan to release foxes sprayed with glow-in-the-dark paint in Japan. It was never executed.
J17W1 TIL The current American flag was designed by a high school student. It was part of a school project for Bob Heft's junior-year history class, and it only earned a B-.
69dV7 TIL Esteemed astronomer William Herschel presented his views that there were inhabitants on the Sun to Britain’s Royal Society in 1795. At the time, many scientists thought that all the planets were inhabited and many considered the Sun to be a planet
xo45 TIL that the paleontology advisor on Jurassic Park is today trying to reverse evolve a chicken into a dinosaur.
AD6Ko TIL in 1998 Charlie Brooker caused a magazine to be pulled from the shelves for writing an article depicting children taking out their violent impulses on animals in the fictional 'Helmut Werstler's Cruelty Zoo'