› added 12 years ago

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TIL in 1882, a house, 5 ft wide, 4 stories high and 104 ft deep was erected on Lexington Ave, NYC to “spite” the neighbor, and block his views. It was known as “Spite House”.

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jrWj TIL Stalin liked to play practical jokes, so he created a rule which stated that no one could enter his bedchambers, so one night he pretended to scream in agony, and his guards rushed in to protect him, but they broke Stalin’s rule, and Stalin executed them shortly afterwards.
4XvBw TIL Humans are not the only animal that likes to get drunk. Australian parrots have discovered that sugar spilt from cane trucks and wet by dew overnight can rapidly ferment in the Sun, providing free booze.
D1LdY TIL when the British electronics retailer Dixons introduced the Matsui brand, they drew protests due to the brand having the same name as Iwane Matsui, the Japanese general responsible for the Nanking Massacre.
ADnwB TIL that macaroni and cheese originated in the 14th Century. A Middle English recipe describes it as "Take and make a thynne foyle of dowh. and kerve it on pieces, and cast hem on boiling water & seeþ it well. take cheese and grate it and butter cast bynethen and above as losyns. and serue forth."
N7nJJ TIL that the phrase 'Until the Bitter End' comes from the frame that a ships anchor was connected to (the bitts), so the 'bitter end' was the last bit of rope that attached it to the ship. This was designed to break and release the anchor if it was in free fall to stop it ripping out the ships deck.