› added 2 years ago

66

TIL about Edward Dando, notorious glutton and dine-and-dasher in 1800's Britain, who would eat dozens of oysters, not pay, go to jail, get released, and promptly do it again

e0QEg TIL that people used to castrate pre-pubescent boys before the 19th century to halt growth in their larynx to make them sound better and to rival Sopranos, Contraltos, etc. Doing this also increased their breathing capacity. This stopped in the late 19th centuries. They were called Castratos.
o4bY TIL that when The Artist Formerly Known As Prince changed is name to the ‘Love Symbol’ in 1993, Warner Bros. had to organize a mass mailing of floppy disks with a custom font in order to use the symbol in print media.
0w7b5 TIL Wikipeida have tried to adopt a mascot. Suggestions have been a monkey behind a typewriter, an amoeba, Cliff Clavin (from Cheers), The Thinker, an owl, slime mold, termites. The most common mascot is the anime influenced Wikipie-Tan, a Moe personification of the site. She's still unofficial.
7rjNx TIL that the Ancient Egyptian text Debate Between a Man and His Soul is about a man deeply unhappy with life without the will to continue to live, saying one cannot find friends anymore and that nobody is good anymore. It is considered the oldest text on depression. It ends on a positive note.
GYbAJ TIL that Pan Am jet “Clipper Climax” featured in the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Clipper Climax would later crash into a mountain in Indonesia as Pan Am Flight 812, killing everyone on board.