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TIL that in 1905 Coca-Cola revealed the secret formula of their beverage to Rabbi Tobias Geffen, on condition that he not divulge it, so that he could determine whether it was kosher. He required a couple of tweeks, but was then able to certify Coca-Cola as kosher.

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xZPB TIL in Fahrenheit 451 the gov’t didn’t burn books because they were an oppressive dictatorship. The people voted to ban the books because they had short attention spans didn’t want to be offended
gM5b4 TIL: In the Western medical tradition, genital massage of a woman to orgasm by a physician or midwife was a standard treatment for female hysteria, an ailment considered common and chronic in women, the technique of genital massage for a disease called "womb disease.
Mm5b TIL a group of nuns disfigured themselves to protect their chastity from a group of raiding Vikings. When the raiders discovered the nuns they were so disgusted that they locked them in the monastery and burned it down. This event helped coin the phrase “Cutting your nose of to spite your face.”
x6XW7 TIL that the snake Pareas iwasakii, which feeds only on snails, has the particularity of attacking only those whose shells are oriented to the right because of asymmetric jaws, favoring de facto those whose shells are oriented in the other direction.
O6KL TIL the famous Swedish Ice Hotel, built every year out of giant chunks of ice from the Torne River, is now required by the Boverket National Housing Board to include fire alarms, despite being made entirely out of frozen water