› added 13 years ago

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TIL that in 2000, media mogul Ted Turner donated $35 million to cover UN dues owed by the US, which the Republican controlled US Congress refused to pay.

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via reddit.com

75dZ TIL that Mike Rowe is an honorary member of the international society dedicated to Barbershop Quartets, and attributes his entire career to his 10th grade music teacher forcing him to sing in a quartet
gMaNL TIL Einstein named Spinoza as the thinker most influential on his world view. When asked by a Rabbi if he believed in God, he replied "I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings."
xV8MD TIL Agnes Waterhouse was the first woman executed for witchcraft in England (1566). She was accused of turning her talking cat into a toad, which then turned into a dog with horns and threatened her neighbor with a knife. She denied it, but was found guilty and hung.
8ambX TIL that in WWII there was a Nazi sailor who flushed his toilet incorrectly, causing his submarine to flood with seawater. The sub was forced to surface in view of the British who then attacked, resulting in the vessel's destruction, 4 Nazi deaths, and 46 Nazis captured
vPOL TIL In 44 U.S States parents are not required to give children medical treatment for conditions, including ones that could prove fatal without medical attention, if they are receiving treatment by spiritual means according to the tenets of a recognized religion.