› added 7 years ago

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TIL that John Young smuggled an illegal corned beef sandwich on board the Gemini 3 spacecraft in 1965. For this delicious stunt, he was given the first reprimand in NASA space mission history and his snack remains the only contraband sandwich to ever make it into space.

x6ojo TIL the word “rooster” was introduced in the mid or late 18th century to avoid the sexual connotation of “cock”.
x65dk TIL estrogen is responsible for the "masculinization" of male brains in early development. Newborn female mice exposed to estrogen will even go on to exhibit male behavior, such as mounting other female mice. Estrogen also plays important roles in memory, stroke prevention, and overall brain health.
9YvW7 TIL Australia once had a MATCH brand called "Dickheads” with the tagline: "We would have to be complete dickheads to let most of our famous Australian brands be taken over by foreign companies. Brands such as Vegemite, Aeroplane Jelly, Arnott's, Speedo and Redhead Matches are in overseas hands.”
PYx9E TIL In the 1980's to compete with McDonald's quarter pounder, A&W introduced a third pound burger that did well in taste tests, but it didn't sell well because Americans thought a quarter pound was bigger than a third of a pound.
d8O8j TIL as part of Ben Franklin's will, the cities of Boston and Philadelphia both received 1000 pounds sterling with the will requiring a portion of the money be set aside for 200 years. When this portion was finally accessed it was worth several million dollars.