› added 4 years ago

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TIL people were still using the phrase 'abracadabra' in the late 1600s to try to ward off the plague in London

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nV9o TIL in WW2 the Polish had enlisted a bear on their side who enjoyed drinking, wrestling, cigarettes and even slept in tents. He would carry heavy ammunition crates to soldiers on the battle field and never once dropped a shell.
MeyB7 TIL that Circus Peanuts were invented by a guy after he installed insulation in his livestock barn. He found the texture so pleasing, he wanted to eat it. Rather than stick it in his mouth like a Tide Pod, he made a snack that mimicked how it felt.
MeQW0 TIL that the first winner of the "Computer Science Man of the Year” award was Grace Hopper in 1969, who made the first compiler and coined the term debugging after finding a moth in the computer.
PPLL TIL that printers leave unique signatures on every page they print, so each piece of paper can be tracked down to the printer. This also explains why you cannot print in black and white if you have no yellow ink.
m6yp TIL that 64% of people bite the head off the gingerbread before eating the rest of it.