› added 12 years ago

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TIL an Australian farmer protested government-imposed wheat quotas by ceding from Australia and creating his own country. This was 40 years ago. The country still exists, and he’s the king.

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E1547 TIL that the nautical terms for either side of a ship, Port and Starboard, were changed to the current terms due to the confusion caused by the old term for the left side. The terms used to be Larboard and Starboard.
looPa TIL Belugas can mimic the human voice so well a diver believed his colleagues were trying to talk to him when in fact it was the whale
yQAWV TIL that during the Mexican-American war, a battalion made up of mostly Irishmen called "St Patrick's Battalion" fought against the Americans, and when caught, were executed, making it the largest mass execution in United States history
NJle TIL that in the days after hurricane Katrina, doctors at Memorial Hospital NOLA, began to euthanize patients that were deemed too sick to save.
p8j14 TIL Christopher Nolan refused to use green screens for Interstellar, instead opting to build an actual set for the black hole scene and suspend Matthew McConaughey on wires