› added 10 years ago

164

TIL that Mark Twain gave a lecture on Masturbation in which he poked fun at those who shunned the practice by making up quotes such as, “Homer, in the second book of the Iliad, says with fine enthusiasm, “Give me masturbation or give me death!”

Read more brainpickings.org

via reddit.com

d7QE TIL that the guy who made UK’s porn filters is now under arrest for charges of child porn.
Y7g0B TIL in the 1935 Prince Edward Island election, 42.1% of voters voted for the Conservative party. However, because of their geographic distribution across the province, the Liberals still won 100% of the seats in the Legislative Assembly, which was a first for the entire Commonwealth.
ANw54 TIL the naming of Haumea, the first dwarf planet since Pluto, was held up for years due to a dispute over who should be credited with its discovery. Michael Brown first noticed the planet but Jose Luis Ortiz first announced it. Brown accused Ortiz of fraud while Ortiz accused Brown of manipulation.
kO6wW TIL MRI studies show that the teenage brain is not an old child brain or a half-baked adult brain; it is a unique entity characterized by changeability and an increase in networking among brain regions
r6o0 TIL Weezer’s first gig was opening for Keanu Reeves’s band, Dogstar