› added 11 years ago

108

TIL When Louis Pasteur was working on the Rabies vaccine, if he or his assistants got infected, they were to be shot in the head

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9YYlr TIL that most pizza sold in Italy is specifically created to match the tourists' expectations of what authentic pizza is, not to match authentic Italian recipes. Tourists then go home and open up pizza shops to recreate this "authentic" experience. This is called the Pizza effect.
oBK9r TIL that the United States Postal Service has about 1,700 employees in Utah who read anything that the automated systems can't read like illegible addresses. About 5 million pieces of mail are read at this location daily. Seasoned employees generally average about 1,600 addresses read per hour.
R7rg1 TIL King Richard the Lionheart of England forgave and freed his killer, a young French boy whose father and brothers had been killed by Richard; the boy said he shot Richard with a crossbow as revenge, and Richard was so impressed with his bravery that he sent him off with 100 shillings
Eggg7 TIL that: In Medieval times, "Cockaigne" was an imaginary utopia for peasants where the sky rains cheese, and laziness was treasured above all else. It was meant to be a better place than the alcohol-free Christian heaven which only had fruit.
7rZ6b TIL about Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring (1962). The book accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation on the harmful effects of pesticides. The book is credited with inspiring the environmental movement, leading to the formation of the U.S Environmental Protection Agency