› added 4 years ago

52

TIL California Endangered Species Act doesn't include protection provisions for insects; instead of trying to add insects to the act, a group of environmentalists tried to get bees categorized as fish because the act's definition of fish includes animals without backbones.

d8yg7 TIL : The first African American to win a Nascar sponsored event Wendell Scott got his win removed in 1963 because race organizers weren’t sure how to deal with the customary kiss given by a white beauty queen to the victor in the winner’s circle. 47 years(20 after his death) he recieved his trophy
Rnm1 TIL the U.S. and Russian Military use depleted uranium bullets that can pierce vehicle armor; once the bullet pierces the armor, it gets sharper and automatically catches on fire, igniting fuel and causing the vehicle to explode.
xO1k TIL that in 1942, Jack Woolams, a test pilot for the new top secret “Jet Engine” aircraft, would surprise other unsuspecting propeller planes by flying up along side them in his jet while wearing a gorilla suit and smoking a cigar.
yV558 TIL about James Jakob Williams: An African-American marine that - after fighting in the Second Barbary War (1815) - traveled to Greece where slavery had been abolished. There, he fought for the liberation of Greece from the Ottoman empire. He died in 1829: a free man, in a free Greece.
xQAg TIL the man who invented autopilot was also the founding member of the mile-high club.