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TIL that video game loot boxes are "in violation of gambling legislation" and thus illegal in Belgium

Read more bbc.com

via reddit.com

9oO7 TIL that for all the hysteria, peak membership in the Flat Earth Society was 3500 people in the late 90s
yQ9El TIL that there are "hedomism calculators" like Felicific Calculus to work out how much pleasure or pain an act may produce
GYNp5 TIL that "sinister" means "left" or "left-handed" in Latin from the word "sinus" meaning "pocket". In Roman togas, the pocket would be on the left side. This grew to left-handed people having unlucky or even evil connotations, which led to the modern English word "sinister".
oXPK TIL that Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, the hosts for Mythbusters, never liked each other.
rNXm4 TIL that before ice cream cones were invented, people used "penny licks" to eat ice cream from street vendors: a small glass which the customer would lick clean and return to the vendor. They were banned in 1898 due to concerns about the spread of disease, particularly cholera and tuberculosis.