› added 1 month ago

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TIL that Batman was created almost at the same time as the Black Bat, a pulp fiction hero so similar that the publishers considered suing each other. They eventually found an agreement: the Black Bat wouldn't appear in comics, and in exchange, Batman wouldn't appear in pulp magazines.

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via reddit.com

jN4VN TIL that "God bless you" originated in Rome when the bubonic plague was ravaging Europe. Sneezing was one the plague's main symptoms, and it is believed that Pope Gregory I suggested that a tiny prayer in the form of saying, "God bless you" after a sneeze would protect the person from death.
Z8KVp TIL of Solar Storm of 2012. It was an event on July 23 that produced a solar outburst that was comparable to the Solar Storm of 1859, which destroyed all electrical equipment. However, this solar outburst narrowly missed Earth by 9 days; it would have cost an estimated $2.6 trillion in damages.
vLQK TIL Jimmy Kimmel called out a Gawker writer on live television for publishing false reports that he was drunk in public, telling her, “I know you’re an editor. What exactly are you editing from the website?”
neV9d TIL: Pokémon Go players walked 8.7 billion km collectively in 2016 – enough to get to the end of the Solar System
vKPx TIL that 54% of girls under age 16 have experienced some form of unwanted sexual attention; 24% have experienced rape or coercive sex; 17% have experienced incest. The rate of sexual abuse for girls with disabilities is quadruple that of the national average. (Today is Women’s day.)