› added 2 years ago

156

TIL that I've been calling everything an ACRONYM when in fact they could instead be an INITIALISM. An acronym can be spoken like a word e.g. FIFA, NASA, RAM, where as an initialism cannot be easily spoken as a word e.g. FBI, CIA, UFO, HSBC, and are instead pronounced letter by letter.

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4XwYw TIL serial killer Richard Ramirez spent time in his youth with his Vietnam Veteran cousin who spoke of his love for killing, polaroids of severed heads, and taught him military tactics until the cousin shot and killed his wife in front of Ramirez. He plead insanity and was not charged.
59Ek TIL that in Middle Age Britain, the church taught that for ‘Godly Congress’ both the man and the woman needed to produce sperm. The only way a woman could produce sperm was to orgasm. All 'ungodly’ sex was frowned upon, so most sex involved maximum effort to produce a strong female orgasm.
wolNJ TIL the phrase "Sorry, Charlie" comes from Charlie the Tuna, a StarKist mascot always rejected for having "good taste" instead of tasting good.
loPkr Today I learned that the first Steam Engine was invented in Alexandria,Egypt in the 1st century AD. The Egyptians couldnt find any practical use to it and the tecnology was lost in history until beeing re-invented in the 17 century!
6EoxJ TIL Martin Luther's son, Paul, was a survivor of the bubonic plague. After surviving, he dedicated his life to chemistry and medicine, developing the pharmaceuticals Unguentum ex nitro, Magistrum perlarum, Magistrum collorum, and Aurum potabile.