› added 7 months ago

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TIL that the Great Qing Legal Code was in force until 1971 in then-British Hong Kong

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1aNkV TIL that ancient greek males were not ashamed of exposing their entire genitalia, only the glans. This led to the habit of covering it up with the foreskin using a special knot called "kynodesme", or dog tie.
j6oyj TIL Hydrogen-alpha solar telescopes work thanks to an optical device called an etalon, made up of two semi-reflective, optically flat plates. The flatness of the plates and how parallel they are defines the quality of the view of the Sun, which has an ‘orange peel’ appearance through the telescope
kO7Ae TIL there is an English book on atomic theory that avoids all foreign loan words: elements become "firststuffs", hydrogen is "waterstuff", and the title, Uncleftish Beholding, means Atomic Theory
neJ59 TIL about Buckfast--a wine brewed by some of the last Benedictine monks in Britain, sold as a tonic in UK pharmacies, and known infamously in Scotland as "Wreck the Hoose Juice" where it was associated with >40% of all violent crime there in 2015
lovE7 TIL Spallanzani, an Italian Catholic priest and biologist was one of the first to disprove abiogenesis (life from non-life) by using tight fitted pants on male frogs which lead to failure to copulate and thus failure to reproduce.