› added 9 years ago

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TIL that there was a breed of dog called a “Turnspit Dog”. It was placed into a large wheel like a hamster or gerbil wheel. The wheel drove a belt connected to a turn-spit in a fireplace to rotate the meat on the turn spit. This breed is now extinct.

jN4KR TIL that Marvin Gaye died in April of 1984 after being shot twice in the chest. Marvin had tried to break up a fight between his parents when Marvin's father pulled out a .38 Smith & Wesson, a Christmas gift from Marvin to his father from the year before, and fatally shot his son.
M7oDm TIL that in 1938, a wallet manufacturer ran advertisements demonstrating that a Social Security card could fit into its wallets. In these ads, it used a sample card featuring the real Social Security Number of the company's secretary
N7N1J TIL that in the 70s, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, tried creating its own artificial coral reef by dumping some 2 million used tires into the ocean. It became an environmental disaster, naturally, but also a military training exercise when divers had to retrieve the tires (almost one by one).
wDmM TIL saying the same word over and over until it loses it’s meaning is a real thing called semantic satiation
gMVDy TIL about the bundling board. While used for strangers having to share a bed, it is also used by the parents of young, courting, puritan couples to achieve the emotional intimacy of sharing a bed while at the same time "discouraging" any real physical intimacy before marriage.