› added 10 years ago

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TIL in Japanese Mafia, the ritual of cutting off finger for penance comes from the traditional way of holding a sword. The removal of digits starting with the little finger moving up to the index finger weakens sword grip. So that a person with a weak sword grip then has to rely more on the group.

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rR7Bd TIL of a supersition that claims if you utter "Rabbit, Rabbit" before any other words on the 1st of the month, it will bring good luck.
OPGL TIL of the ESPN show Playmakers. It was their first original drama series depicting the lives of an American football team. Despite high ratings, the show was cancelled after 11 episodes due to pressure from the NFL, who thought the show negatively portrayed pro football players
xVVVD TIL Adolf Hitler was the first European leader to ban human zoos, a popular attraction in Europe where exotic peoples were paid to be on exhibit for onlookers, with recreated habitats and shows. Belgium was the last to ban them, in 1958.
mxYrx TIL that several months before Russell Crowe won the Oscar for Gladiator, the FBI warned him that the al-Qaeda were planning to kidnap him as part of a “cultural destabilization plot”. For nearly two years, the FBI guarded Crowe in public and refused to give him any details about the threat.
WOVo TIL Brussels sprouts and cilantro contain flavour compounds that are undetectable to some, but make the foods unpalatable to others.