› added 1 year ago

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TIL that the dude who wrote the “…for dummies” book series is the real-life basis for the nerdy character “Mark Ratner” in “fast times at ridgemont high”

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OGgXe TIL: The Swingjugend was a German counter culture group of teenagers who admired the American way of life and thought the Hitler's Youth was uncool compared to the swing scene. They called their opposition the "Homo Youth" and too chaste (virgins). Their leaders were sent to the camps.
VBWP8 TIL about Operation Cottage. A joint US-Canada military operation in 1943 to take back an occupied Alaskan Island. Unfortunately, Canadians and Americans mistook each other for Japanese and open fired, killing 92 soldiers and wounding over 200 others.
E1ajX TIL the idea caffeinated coffee & tea dehydrate you is misunderstood. It's true that caffeine can be a weak diuretic - (stimulates urination) - but the loss is negated by the water in the drink itself. You're ingesting more fluids than urinating when drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee or tea.
aed0 TIL that in medieval times it was common to have “2” sleeps per night. You would fall asleep for 4 to 5 hours, wake up for 2 hours or so and fall back to sleep for another 3 to 4. It’s been suggested that we may have evolved this way to tend to the fire in order to keep us warm and safe.
P1xWg TIL that in England, suicide was considered a felony "punished at common law by burial in the public highway with a stake driven through his body." Attempted suicide was a misdemeanor.