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TIL On May 13, 1862, self-freed slave Robert Smalls quietly maneuvered a Confederate ship full of fellow slaves and their families, through confederate lines and surrendered the ship over to the Union army and went on to become the first black man to captain a United States ship

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4kBdg TIL in February 1941, James O. Richardson was fired after pleading with FDR about his poor decision to centralize the Naval fleet at Pearl Harbor and warning of the risks. Unfortunately, his warning was proven right on December 7th when the Japanese attacked and sunk the fleet.
4X0YJ TIL about the dangerous Onbashira Festival, which involves participants to ride on sixteen enormous 50-foot/15-meter, 10-ton/9,000-kg logs down steep mountains among other difficult terrains in a ceremony known as Kiotoshi, that takes place in Nagano, Japan. Injury and fatal incidents are frequent.
R5YG6 TIL about Smoky, the first recorded therapy dog, who was rescued from a WWII foxhole. While backpacking across the Pacific theater with the soldier who found her, Smoky experienced 12 combat missions, 150 air raids, a typhoon and was awarded 8 battle stars.
neBJr TIL a German study found that wine tasted better if the drinker thinks it's more expensive. Subjects inside an MRI scanner tasted a $14 red wine 3x but were told each sip was from bottles costing $3, $7, & $21. The brain's motivation & reward center was more active for the "more expensive" wine.
gN69 TIL $100,000,000 lawsuit claiming the film Sister Act was plagiarized from a book A Nun in the Closet. Disney offered $1,000,000 to settle of out court the but the plaintiffs declined. Eventually the judge found in favor of Disney and the other defendants, the plaintiffs got nothing.