› added 4 years ago

194

TIL Elizebeth Smith Friedman, America’s first female cryptanalyst, worked as a code breaker who successfully broke up a Nazi spy ring across South America during the 1940s. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover took credit for her work until reports were declassified in 2008.

Read more smithsonianmag.com

via reddit.com

9wdpB TIL that the Star Spangled Banner, written after a British naval bombardment, is to the tune of a British drinking song.
KOOQG TIL that a Chinese millionaire author of online fantasy novels paid $10,000 for the most expensive single dram (shot) of Scotch ever sold, only to have the bar manager fly to China to refund him in person when the Scotch was determined to be a fake
W7kLd TIL that a man who witnessed the Lincoln assassination as a small child actually made a live appearance on television. He died two months after it was filmed.
vPN7K TIL the colors of the American flag have a specific meaning: Red symbolises valor and bravery, White symbolises purity and innocence and Blue symbolises vigilance, perseverance and justice.
R7v56 TIL about bacha posh, a cultural practice in Afghanistan where some girls are raised as boys until puberty