› added 3 weeks ago

1

TIL that Dan White, the man who assassinated Harvey Milk and the mayor of San Francisco, only served 5 years in prison for manslaughter based on a defense of depression as evidenced by his consumption of junk food which was dubbed the "Twinkie Defense"

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

G9kg TIL that a Greek prime minister in 1830’s tried to spread the potato in Greece but people weren’t interested so he put armed guards in front of shipments of potatoes so people would think they were important. People later started stealing these potatoes a lot which spread the crop to all of Greece.
4Xe6X TIL That the full lyrics of "Take me Out to the Ball Game" reveal the song was a feminist anthem about a woman wanting to go see a baseball game rather than go on a date to a show.
rRxA0 TIL wolves killed tens of thousands of people across Europe in the 18th century. One infamous wolf called The Beast of Gévaudan killed more than 500 people, usually by tearing their throats out.
oBZV8 TIL that vegetarians are more likely to suffer from mental disorders than omnivores
Eg0Kp TIL that Disney attempted to trademark the centuries-old Mexican holiday "Dia de los Muertos" for merchandising purposes. They requested exclusivity on education, entertainment, and "frozen meals consisting primarily of pasta or rice".