› added 5 years ago

78

TIL In 1999, people believed that Furbies contained computer chips so they could record words and repeat them. The U.S. satellite intelligence operation banned Furbies - in essence, accusing the toy of being a Chinese-manufactured spy, a secret-stealing bugging device capable of eavesdropping.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

ddxQ TIL While serving as the POTUS in 2002, President Bush choked on a pretzel causing him to lose consciousness and hitting his head on the way down. The only reason he survived is because the pretzel dissolved allowing air to enter back into his lungs where he regained consciousness.
l7op1 TIL Arctic foxes strongly prefer to dive in a north-easterly direction. They are more likely to make a kill if they jumped along the invisible axis, especially when their prey was hidden by snow. If they pounced to the north-east, they killed on 73% of jumps compared with 18% in other directions .
MRpB TIL the pilot of Gemini 3, John Young, was reprimanded for smuggling a corned beef sandwich onto the spacecraft.
ADJe7 TIL: about The Battle Of Blair Mountain - the largest labor uprising in United States history and the largest organized armed uprising since the American Civil War. For five days from late August to early September 1921, some 10,000 armed coal miners confronted 3,000 police and strike-breakers.
RNe1 TIL The U.S. Founding Fathers were against Political Parties, and thought they would lead to competition for power, instead of making decisions for the people.