› added 4 years ago

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TIL that in 1999, multinational cigarette company Philip Morris attempted to convince the Czech Republic that smoking was highly beneficial to the country's economy, as more people would die earlier, hence allowing the government to save millions on health-care, pension and public-housing.

v17Pj TIL that Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates and, on finding out what they were asking in ransom, demanded it be higher because of how important he was. He forced them to listen to speeches he composed and often threatened to crucify them.
yV5mX TIL one major concern of establishing human settlements on Mars is pregnancy. It is likely that members of craft may engage in sex due to their stressful and isolated environment, and it is still not fully known how the environment in a spacecraft would affect the development of a child aboard.
v1b5j TIL, after 9/11, the Clear Channel Memoradum banned 164 songs from radio airplay, such as Metallica’s “Seek & Destroy”, the Beatles “ Lucy in the Sky with a Diamonds”, AC/DC’s “TNT”, Paul McCartney and Wings “Live and Let Die”, and Rage Against The Machine’s entire catalog.
O8Dg TIL that a ‘we can change any part of this contract, any time we want, without telling you’ can be a 'poison pill’ that invalidates the rest of a contract.
doJ9 TIL Hong Kong has the highest intelligence of any country/territory on earth with an average IQ of 107, followed by South Korea and Japan. The USA doesn’t break the top 10.