› added 5 years ago

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TIL that Rodney Dangerfield wrote a romance novel called La Contessa, that features his own face on the cover, and that he narrates himself.

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GYE4j TIL that starting in 1817, the first year curriculum at West Point consisted solely of mathematics and French classes. The best available textbooks were in French, so all cadets had to learn French so they could read their math texts.
GMYj TIL that a reservoir in Portland, Oregon had to be flushed of 38 million gallons of water after a 19 year old peed into it.
woO6 TIL a mentally imbalanced man named Joshua Norton in the mid-1800’s declared himself “Emperor of the United States.” The people of his town were so amused that they respected his authority, doing things like actually taking the fake money that the “Emporer” issued in his own name.
E1d9X TIL Rage Against the Machine unsuccessfully sued the State Department for using their song "Killing in the name of" in torture methods at Guantanamo Bay.
OkK7 TIL soldiers in WWII made simple radios using a razorblade and pencil as the diode, dubbing them Foxhole Radios.