› added 1 year ago

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TIL: Doctors used to blow tobacco smoke up your butt to cure cold, drowsiness, save people from drowning, headaches, etc. An early example was described in 1686 which describes shoving a pipe in and then repeatedly pumping in smoke. Early critics were worried it made the brain "sooty".

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Qm9k TIL that after the first transatlantic telegraph message, the citizens of New York were so excited that they set the City Hall on fire during the celebrations.
e0Yx6 TIL: Nazis offered Iron Cross for 4 Finnish Jews during WW2. None accepted. For example, Leo Skurnik was awarded Iron Cross for evacuating a German soldier under enemy fire. Major Skurnik told the Germans that Skurnik would "wipe his arse with the medal."
JvDv TIL the BB gun company Daisy originally manufactured windmills, and included a complementary BB gun with each windmill purchase in order to promote sales. The guns became so popular that the company stopped selling windmills and started selling BB guns.
QNNj9 TIL that Dusty Springfield recorded her 1966 megahit "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" in the studio's stairwell because it was the only place the acoustics suited her. Dusty still needed 47 takes before she was satisfied.
YZy7 TIL Alfred Hitchcock was notoriously hard on actors. He was once quoted as saying, “Actors are cattle”—a quip that stirred up a huge outcry. In response, he issued this correction: “I have been misquoted. What I really said is, ‘Actors should be treated as cattle.’”