› added 10 years ago

1666

TIL The Queen of England is the legal owner of one sixth of the land on the Earth’s surface

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ANlld TIL WWII ship wreaks are just years away from releasing ~15 million tonnes of oil as their hulls rust away. 400x more than the Exxon Valdez disaster.
W7Oo4 TIL that there is only one confirmed attempt by British colonists to infect natives with smallpox. In 1763, native warriors laid siege to Fort Pitt. After negotiations to abandon the fort failed, the British gave the emissaries two blankets and a handkerchief from a smallpox infected patient
Ovj6 TIL that John Quincy Adams took the oath of office using a law book instead of a bible. Adams was the sixth President of the United States from 1825-1829.
kO1Xm TIL Soundcloud was blocked in Turkey in 2014 because a user “haramzadeler” (“bastards” in Turkish) uploaded seven privately recored phonecalls between the now president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, politicians and businessmen, that revealed illegal activity and possible bribery.
R7oQ1 TIL in 1941, Time Magazine planned to select the Disney character Dumbo as its Person of the Year, even designing a formal portrait for him and the title of "Mammal of the Year". This was until the Pearl Harbor attacks happened, forcing them to instead give the award to President Franklin Roosevelt.