› added 8 months ago

27

TIL that the word "robot" was first used in a play titled "R.U.R.," written by Czech writer Karel Čapek in 1920. The term comes from the Czech word "robota," meaning "forced labor" or "drudgery."

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

neV7 TIL on September 6, 1949, a mentally disturbed WWII vet killed 13 of his neighbors and injured 3 more in what is considered the first single-episode mass murder in US history. When he died in 2009, his last words were “I’d have killed a thousand if I had enough bullets.”
OGoRX TIL The last living patient treated by Sigmund Freud was 88 in 2006 and credited him as "saving my life". She was a teenager in 1936 who "opened her heart to the therapist", recalling telling 80 year old Freud of reading erotic books and uncomfortable moments with her father
xNJo TIL that special training is given to prison officers administering corporal punishment in Singapore and Malaysia, to teach them how to swing the 1.09-metre cane at a minimum speed of 160kph and produce a force upon impact of at least 90kg.
VBLRG TIL unassisted marathon swims can be relays with varied numbers of participants
NoX6 TIL That since the end of the WWII Canada has been naming its 1000’s of unnamed lakes after fallen soldiers.