› added 10 years ago

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TIL that our modern idea of headphone plugs is >130yrs old. It was invented in 1878, and is thus possibly the oldest electrical connector standard still in use today!

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via reddit.com

wL8YW TIL that the Netherlands can be flooded as a military defense.
e0x5L TIL, on April 9th 2007, a theater filled with parents and their small children who were there to see 'The Last Mimzy' were accidentally shown 'The Hills Have Eyes 2', in which the beginning of the movie features a screaming, bruised, beaten, and bloodied woman delivering a deformed newborn
kO10g TIL Nestlé sued the writers of a booklet called “The Baby Killer”, about Nestlé’s aggressive marketing of baby formula in 3rd world countries, for libel. The court ruled in Nestlé’s favor since they wouldn’t have been found guilty of murder “in terms of criminal law" but fined the writers just $400.
XEoaR TIL in 2011 when Lisa Lampanelli learned the Westboro Baptist Church planned to protest one of her shows. She promised to donate $1000 for every WBC member that showed up. Ultimately 44 members showed up, and she donated $50,000 to charity with the memo stating “Donation made possible by the WBC”
dDXXB TIL drowning is not strictly when someone dies from inhaling water, but refers to the automatic neurological response to a breathing emergency due to submersion in water. You can have drowned with no water entering your lungs and have no later health complications.