› added 4 years ago

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TIL: A renewable fuel energy scheme in Northern Ireland allowed businesses to profit from heating empty properties and cost the British Government £500m.

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via reddit.com

wLQWW TIL a British company rebranded a golf ball locator device and sold it to several various militaries, and clamed it could detect explosive devices. In 2013, the inventor was sentenced to 10 years in prison for fraud. The device was a form of dowsing rod, and profited about £1.35 million.
JYKm8 TIL that it wasn’t until 1935 that a manufacturer was able to promise “splinter-Free Toilet Paper.”
JYkb1 TIL That Bob Barker was in the Air Force, has a black belt and was trained by Chuck Norris
OoyWa TIL about the Oakland Buddha, placed by a resident on a street corner in a desperate attempt to prevent illegal dumping, it has grown over the years into a shrine for the local Vietnamese residents. Following the development of the Buddhist shrine, criminal activity in the area dropped by 82%
0d4X1 TIL that in 1948, a U.S. Air Force meteorologist suggested testing nuclear weapons on the East Coast but was rejected. Instead, the weapons were tested in the West and exposed millions of Americans to fallout.