› added 10 months ago

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TIL that the Wayside books were written by the same guy as Holes (Louis Sachar)

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yVQWp TIL about Cabeza de Vaca, one of four survivors out of 400 people of the 1527 Narváez expedition. During eight years of traveling across what is now the US Southwest, he became a trader and faith healer to various Native American tribes before reconnecting with Spanish civilization in Mexico in 1536
lNA5 TIL the Rothschilds had such an efficient system of couriers that they knew Napoleon had lost at Waterloo a day before the government did. Nathan Rothschild kept it secret and immediately bought up the government bond market. He then sold the bonds for an enormous 40% profit two years later.
74xr TIL that the average American thinks that 26% of the federal budget goes to foreign aid, while it in reality is less than 1%, or 0.17% of GNI (compared to 1.4% of Sweden’s GNI)
VMgvD TIL Admiral Jeremiah Denton Jr. used his eyes to blink the word "TORTURE" using Morse Code during his captivity in Vietnam.
NkNJ TIL it was Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, that established the 5-day, 40-hour work week. He switched his workers from the standard 6-day, 48-hour workweek, but still paid them the same wages.