› added 2 years ago

77

TIL that the BBC has a Coat of Arms.

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womAP TIL: The phrase "A jack of all trades" is actually a compliment. I always thought this was an insult to those who did multiple things rather than specializing in something until I learned the full phrase: "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but often times better than a master of one."
GYRrQ TIL 1-800-COLLECT was so popular in the 90s that AT&T launched a competing service, 1-800-Operator. However AT&T later discovered many people misspell Operator with 'er' instead of 'or' at the end, and that unfortunately, 1-800-COLLECT owned the misspelled number and had been taking their customers.
W16A TIL that in 1986 an electronics store chain made good on its offer to sell stereos for “299 bananas” when customers turned up with the fruit as payment
J1DB1 TIL of brain tanning, a traditional method of tanning leather using animal's brain matter and smoke, that was practiced by Native Americans, Saami and other indigenous cultures
JY5J1 TIL that after L. Ron Hubbard's death in 1986, the Church of Scientology officially claimed that he voluntarily abandoned his physical body after it became an impediment to his work, and that he had left Earth to do scientific research on another planet—having "learned how to do it without a body".