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TIL that in 1937, James Naismith - the inventor of basketball - advocated for a four-point shot for shots made beyond half court. "A field goal from anywhere past the center of the court should count four points instead of the regular two."

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6964w TIL the word ‘sadism’ derives from the Marquis de Sade, a contemporary of Napoleon whose views on violence scandalised French society (even during the revolutionary terror). His book 120 Days of Sodom is considered unreadable for its abhorrent graphic sexual violence
BgQ4x TIL about the Bouba-Kiki effect: When presented with two shapes, one rounded and one “sharp”, people from most cultures, languages and age groups will strongly tend to associate “Kiki” with the sharp and “Bouba” with the rounded.
ADDgx TIL Gary Webb, the reporter from the San Jose Mercury News who first broke the story of CIA involvement in the cocaine trade, was found dead with "two gunshot wounds to the head." His death, in 2004, was ruled a suicide.
OoM6g TIL that in 1962 a pair of con artists tried to convince a Mexican village they were Incan gods. They hired a prostitute to impersonate an Incan goddess as part of the scam. The prostitute took over the now-growing cult, and intiated a series of grisly murders and human sacrifices
WRNN TIL Sleeping Beauty’s deep sleep was caused by a splinter of flax in her finger, and during her sleep she was raped by a king (her father was a Lord). She gave birth to twins while enchanted and one sucked on her finger to remove the flax which woke her up.