› added 4 years ago

1203

TIL that in ancient Rome, giving fellatio was seen as a disgusting, shameful act, while receiving it wasn't. So sometimes petty crimes were solved by punishing the criminal through forcing him/her to perform fellatio on the victim of the crime, instead of taking the case to court.

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ne1AG TIL This photo of U.S. Army code breakers trained by William Friedman and his wife Elizebeth during WW1 spells out ‘Knowledge is Power.’ By facing either forward or sideways, the soldiers formed a coded phrase utilizing Sir Francis Bacon’s biliteral cipher.
9YJRM TIL a scientist grew mold in a dish, placing it in the center representing Tokyo and oat flakes around it the other cities in the area. It first filled the space with plasmodia, and then thinned the network to focus on well connected branches. The network strikingly resembled Tokyo's rail system.
xa0o TIL: Britain was still paying off its WWII debts owed to America & Canada as recently as 2006. The last payment of $83.25 was wired to America 12/29/06; 6 years late, due to intermittent financial difficulties, having negotiated a 50 year payment plan in 1950.
V8lD TIL that limpets always return to the same bit of rock, and that they grind the rock and their shells away until they form a perfect seal.
neDZ7 TIL that after WWII, a small electronics shop was built in a bomb-damaged department store in Tokyo. The company, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, had only $530 and 8 employees. The company invented Japan's first tape recorder and, in 1958, changed its name to Sony.