› added 6 years ago

151

TIL current American law states that any American can declare any unclaimed unoccupied island in the world for the United States, making it subject to US criminal law and US military protection (at the discretion of the president), but only if the island has lots of bird poop (seriously).

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VmX4 TIL, that in many states it is perfectly legal to refuse to hire someone because they are too ugly, fat, skinny or short.
WkmaY TIL That a study had participants eat cookies labeled as regular and organic. Participants preferred the organic option based on taste and thought the cookie must be lower in fat and calories. They were also willing to pay more for the organic one. The two cookies were 100 percent identical.
rRJpw TIL of Iris Robinson, an anti-gay Irish politician whose career ended after the exposure of an extramarital affair with the (40 years younger) adult child of a family friend. In response, a Facebook group was set up attempting to get the song "Mrs. Robinson" to No. 1 in the Official UK Singles Chart
WkwLB TIL of Ranavalona, a ruthless ruler of Madagascar. During her reign the population of Madagascar is estimated to have declined from around 5 million to 2.5 million
4D5a TIL that in classical Athens, the punishment for sleeping with another man’s wife was to be publicly sodomized with a spicy radish.