› added 9 years ago

85

TIL in a 1993 episode of Seinfeld, Elaine was dating a guy who shared a named with serial killer Joel Rifkin. She suggested to him that he change his name to O.J. like the football player. The following year O.J. was charged with double murder.

EgEL0 TIL: In 1666, the plague-infested village of Eyam quarantined itself inside a marked circle for 14 months. Neighboring communities left food at the edge of the circle in exchange for disinfected coins. 80% of the people died, but no one crossed the circle.
PMWO TIL that in the 1970s, General Mills sued an economics professor for making a parody game called “Anti-Monopoly,” but the suit was thrown out because it was discovered that Monopoly was a ripoff of a board game first developed in 1903 called “The Landlord’s Game.”
l7RLr TIL Joan Robinson was denied Nobel Prize in Economics because she supported Mao's Economic Policies and of all 93 Economics Nobel Prize winners only 10 winners have been cited more widely than Robinson. Future Nobel Prize winners Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen were the students of hers
e1d4 TIL that Clint Eastwood composed the scores to a number of his films, and was nominated for a Grammy in 2006 for Best Score Soundtrack Album for Million Dollar Baby.
0dEvA TIL that P.T. Barnum noticed people were lingering too long at his exhibits so he posted signs indicating "This Way to the Egress". Not knowing that "Egress" was another word for "Exit", people followed the signs to what they assumed was a fascinating exhibit and ended up outside.