› added 12 years ago

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TIL that Fidonet, a pre-internet networking technology, still exists and is used today

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d8oN7 TIL that “discotheque” means "library of phonograph records" in French; the term gradually came to refer to clubs where records were the norm, rather than a band. In the early 1960s, the word came into use in the United States, frequently shortened to “disco.”
Wk8o TIL celibacy rules for priests arose so the Church, not children, would inherit their money
KP4w TIL By paying a fee of $300 you could officially and legally avoid the civil war draft. You could also find a substitute to fight in your place, a tactic the rich often used to avoid being enlisted. To encourage recruits to join, even Abraham Lincoln paid a man $500 to enlist on his behalf.
ZpZdR TIL that defunct airline Pan Am accepted reservation requests from 93,000 people for commercial spaceflights to the moon, which were expected to start departing in the year 2000.
OG7ZR TIL South Park aired an episode titled “Band in China”… which resulted in them being banned in China.