› added 2 years ago

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TIL that the author of the thriller The Four Just Men offered a £500 prize to whoever guessed the killer's name, but forgot to state there would only be one winner. The book became a bestseller but bankrupted him, as he was legally bound to pay every reader who answered correctly.

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DQklJ TIL “Silver Springs”, written by Stevie Nicks for Fleetwood Mac should have been on the hit album Rumors but it was cut. It was released later and took years to become a hit. Nicks was pissed that it was cut from Rumors as she had gifted the royalties to her mom.
WkXvX TIL that in 1729, Jonathan Swift published a satirical essay in which suggested that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food to rich gentlemen. This satirical hyperbole mocked heartless attitudes of the British towards the poor and Irish in general
gMwvW TIL of the decoy effect. When there are only two options, people may have trouble making a choice. An unattractive third option, a "decoy", can change the perceived preference between the other two. Companies take advantage of this effect to sell its products by cleverly pricing its products.
aLWL TIL a 19 year old developed a way to clean the plastic out of the oceans 2000x times faster than if they used boats and nets
LkJNp TIL that in 1915, a pilot planned a stunt to drop a baseball into an MLB coach’s glove from a plane during a flyover. As a prank she dropped a grapefruit instead; it exploded in the coach’s glove and covered him in red pulp, and he was convinced he was seriously injured and bleeding to death.