› added 7 years ago

281

TIL that tipping in America started so restaurant owners wouldn't have to pay black workers.

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8MeP TIL Bayer lost the rights to the brand names “Heroin” and “Aspirin” as punishment for German involvement in WWI. As a result they are now generalized terms.
al6J TIL that the BIC Crystal ballpoint pen was first sold in the US in 1959 for $0.19. It is still sold for approximately $0.19 even with inflation.
x68ok TIL: The South Pole is much colder than the North Pole
vWE4 TIL the US tried to make cat guided bombs during WWII to hit enemy ships. The hope was that the cat would see the ship as “dry land” and steer the bomb to the target, in an effort to avoid getting wet. The project was abandoned because the cats would lose consciousness in the low G conditions.
8mOV TIL the Grasshopper mouse is a carnivorous rodent that eats scorpions, snakes, and even kills and eats other mice. It also stalks its prey in the manner of a cat and defends its territory by ‘howling’ like a wolf while being immune to various venoms.