› added 9 years ago

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TIL the Supreme Court ruled in 1898 there are only three exceptions to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment: Those born from foreign leaders or diplomats, on foreign public ships, and from hostile enemy forces occupying US territory.

5WnP TIL– Due to a combination of high demand and how difficult they are to trace LEGO sets are becoming increasingly popular as a form of alternate currency in the criminal underworld.
6xyQ TIL The term ‘Rat Pack’ was coined by Lauren Bacall. After a long night of partying in Las Vegas with Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Angie Dickinson, Bacall surveyed the party’s aftermath and declared to it’s participants, “You look like a goddamn rat pack.”
Zp00Y TIL Pseudacteon are flies who put their eggs into worker ants. The fly larva then turn the ant into a zombie and pilots it away from the nest. The ant's head falls off and the fly emerges two weeks later. Pseudacteon has been introduced as ant population controls.
8aEXL TIL that buccaneers derived their name from the Arawak word for buccan, a wooden meat smoker. This smoked meat was purchased largely by Caribbean privateers who eventually gained the nickname.
5YpD9 TIL whales spouting water out of blowholes is a common error propagated in children's books and movies (the whale would be drowning if it did so). A 2016 scientific survey of children's books featuring whales and cetaceans revealed 74/116 had factual errors, including almost half of the non-fiction.