› added 11 years ago

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TIL Patent trolls (more formally non-practicing entities that hold a patent) now account for 61% of all patent litigation (up from 5% 10 years ago), and lose 91% of all cases. Research has said these cases have caused half a trillion, and nearly $80 billion annually, in wealth loss since 1990.

Read more georgetownlawjournal.org

via reddit.com

ZXjo TIL there is a man who, due to auto-brewery syndrome, will get drunk from eating bread
P1Q7Z TIL that North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung’s mother was a Presbyterian deaconess, and one of the few churches openly operating in North Korea is dedicated in her honor.
mxZ8x TIL that Jeff Gordon was so dominant in the late 90s that he was told by NASCAR not to pull out more than four seconds in front of second place to keep the race entertaining.
jNARQ TIL of Thad Roberts, a former NASA intern who spent 6 years in prison for stealing 17 lbs of moon rocks. He wanted to ‘give the moon’ to a girl he liked, so they stole the rocks together, spread them across his bed, had sex on top of them, and then tried to sell them online to undercover FBI agents
XJp8 TIL there is a condition known as Smoking Stool Syndrome, resulting from severe Phosphorus poisoning, known for making people’s defecate give off smoke as though burning.