› added 12 years ago

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TIL 500,000 American SMS’s were intercepted on 9/11, indicating massive surveillance started well before the attacks

Read more 911.wikileaks.org

via reddit.com

78nQ7 TIL the Wicked Witch of the West was never given a name in L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz books, nor in the film. But in his 1995 novel Wicked, Gregory Maguire gave her the name Elphaba based on L. Frank Baum's initials (L.F.B. = El-pha-ba).
AVb7 TIL that the cost of “Prometheus” movie budget would be enough to keep the search for real extraterrestrial life going for 52 years
6E987 TIL A man walked into a publisher's office with 14 pictures and a title to go along with each picture. He said he would come back with the full stories, but never showed up. The pictures have captivated writer's for years.
mxRev TIL Lynchburg, TN isn't named after lynchings, but after Lynchburg, VA. Lynchburg, VA was named after founder John Lynch. John's brother was a man called Charles Lynch, a militiaman and quaker who extra-judiciously lynched Loyalists and is considered to be the namesake of the term lynching.
8WA4 TIL that rats who were trained to press a lever for food stopped pressing the lever once they saw that it also caused another rat to receive an electric shock