› added 7 years ago

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TIL the dodo bird was not unintelligent but simply evolved docile behavior in response to a lack of predator on its native island of Mauritius. Humans took advantage of this behavior, haunted it to extinction, and then made it a universally recognized symbol of unintelligence.

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b9L49 TIL that Admiral Lord Nelson, famous for his victory (and death) at the Battle of Trafalgar, attempted to hunt a polar bear in the Arctic at the age of 14. His musket misfired and he had to fight the now angry bear with the musket butt until a rift in the ice separated them.
QJBOd TIL that The Apostrophe Protection Society that was founded to enforce the proper use of the apostrophe in written English was brought to a "full stop" in 2019. The founder of the society stated that "the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won!"
0dAXR TIL: There is a Japanese legend about pirates rescuing a woman, who then slept with them then cut off their testicles. They threw her back into the ocean, where she turned into a Sazae-oni (demon) and traded their balls for their gold. This led to the term kin-tama or golden balls in Japanese.
LdeQ TIL that US Labeling Law allows any prepared food that is under 5 calories to be marked as 0 or “Calorie free”. A packet of Splenda and a can of Diet Coke both have 4 calories.
kOao5 TIL: For the first time in modern history, an effective and safe FDA-licensed inoculation was withdrawn from the market due to media sensationalism and lawsuits. It is unlikely any Lyme inoculation candidates will be developed in the near future within the United States due to these events.