› added 12 years ago

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TIL J.P. Morgan’s big break started in the Civil War by buying 5,000 defective rifles (shot off troops thumbs) from the US Army Arsenal for $3.50 ea. and then selling them back to a general in the field for $22 ea. He then escaped service from the war by paying $300 for a substitute.

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6EvoW TIL about the American Service Members Protection Act of 2002, which gives the United States the authority to use military force to liberate ANY American or citizen of a U.S allied-country from being held in the International Criminal Court at Hague!
JYEMV TIL While the majority of Saturn's rings are only a few meters thick, there are places where the are giant ice walls several miles tall. (4:35)
R7RO4 TIL that until 2013, Shark Tank required 5% equity of all companies - just to pitch in the show. Lawyers at ABC later changed the requirement after Mark Cuban gave them an ultimatum — remove the equity clause or "I'm not coming back."
0wWEj TIL that filmmaker Ralph Bakshi grew up in an all-black neighborhood in Washington, D.C. and got his mother's permission to attend the local segregated school with his friends. The school called the police and, afraid whites would riot if they learned that a white student was attending, expelled him
4kaZa TIL that under the Invention Secrecy Act, the U.S. government can prevent certain patent applications from being disclosed if they deem the invention a threat to national security. Inventors can be prohibited from sharing or profiting from their own creations without even knowing why.