› added 10 years ago

159

TIL the fast-paced style of speaking at auctions is unique to America yet nobody knows where/how it originated.

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NwQe TIL a bully dropped 7 year old Mike Tyson’s glasses in a truck’s gas tank and tried to steal his meatballs. Several years later, Tyson came back and “beat him in the streets like a fucking dog.”
b9XN4 TIL that when the artist, Melanie Willhide, got her stolen laptop back, all her files were deleted by the burglar. Data recovery experts were able to recover some of them. The photos were corrupted, but she decided to exhibit the work. The show was titled after the burglar.
XEgED TIL about how we test toxic chemicals without using animals: instead, we use data mining software to mathematically predict toxic effects based on the molecule's structure.
gMnOX TIL despite Portuguese neutrality in WWII British ships were allowed to refuel in Portugal because of a treaty signed over 600 years ago - the Treaty of Windsor, which is the longest lasting alliance treaty in the world. The treaty has been invoked several times to save Portugal from invasion.
6ZDQ TIL that in 1985, Philadelphia police used a helicopter to drop a bomb on a house during a 24 hour conflict involving gunfire with the black activist group MOVE. The explosion caused 50+ homes to burn down resulting in 11 deaths, 5 of which were children.