› added 7 years ago

95

TIL free services like Craigslist have decimated the classified advertising departments of newspapers, some of which depended on classifieds for 70% of their ad revenue. Research has shown that Craigslist cost the newspaper industry $5.4 billion from 2000-2007.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

dD0DZ TIL the 1975 union promo song "Look For the Union Label" was popular enough to be used in political campaigns, spoofed by SNL and decades later by South Park. but it failed in its goal to slow the growth of non-union clothing manufacturing jobs and foreign imports
vDKK TIL “This Is The End” was the last ever DVD to be rented from Blockbuster in 2013
9wx5r TIL "Seven Nation Army" became a global sports anthem after a Belgian soccer team's fans heard it in a bar before a big game, sang it while they won, and adopted it as their unofficial team anthem; it spread to other European teams and came back to the US as a Penn State football anthem.
odgr TIL that if one attempted suicide (by hanging, for instance) in 19th century Britain and failed to die, he/she would be charged with attempted murder…which could be punished with death by hanging
rN1Mx TIL the chemotherapy paclitaxel (Taxol) was first isolated from the bark of the Pacific yew tree. In 1987, anti-cancer effects were seen, but harvesting bark killed the trees. Scientists then raced to (and succeeded) in synthesizing the drug. Approved in 1992, Taxol still treats many cancers today.