› added 12 years ago

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TIL that Henry Ford was the first Industrial Giant to give his workers both Saturday and Sunday off, in hope that it would encourage more leisure use of automobiles, and thus popularizing the idea of the “weekend”.

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B8Vx TIL George Orwell’s 1984 which condemns totalitarianism in a police state, is readily available in China, having been translated 13 times from 1985 to 2012
Eg6wd TIL Jack Parsons, a pioneer rocket engineer and inventor of the rocket engines later used in the apollo program was also a passionate occultist. One of his rituals, aimed to summon a sex goddess involved Parsons jerking off to magical tablets while listening to a violin concerto
nWyBP TIL a worse-than-expected storm wreaked havoc on the 303 yachts in the 1979 Fastnet Race. There were 194 retirements, 75 capsized boats, 24 boats abandoned (5 of which believed to be sunk), and the deaths of 15 sailors. Of the 303 yachts that started the race, only 86 finished.
XDZX TIL that strongest predictor of the obesity rise in the US is the decline in cigarette smoking (when considering between employment, physical activity at work, food prices, the prevalence of restaurants, cigarette smoking, cigarette prices and taxes, food stamp receipt, and urbanization.)
KY6nE TIL that during a meeting between Grover Cleveland and James Roosevelt, Cleveland said to Roosevelt's accompanying son, Franklin, “My little man, I am making a strange wish for you; that you may never be president of the United States.” The young Franklin Roosevelt became President 45 years later.