› added 12 years ago

99

TIL that the Germanic peoples always drank wine while holding councils, as they believed nobody could lie effectively when drunk.

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6Y9w TIL that Sony BMG used music cds to illegally install rootkits on users computers to prevent them from ripping copyrighted music; the rootkits themselves, in a copyright violation, included open-source software.
9Ye5Q TIL that while 4-8% of people have at least one food allergy, a large proportion of people in developed countries believe they have food allergies when they actually do not have them.
vGNK TIL that ‘mob’ is short for 'mobile vulgus’ (which is Latin for 'fickle crowd’)
x60kb TIL that the old euphemism for a positive pregnancy test, "the rabbit died", came from a test developed in 1931 wherein the urine from a human female was injected into a rabbit. Soon after, the rabbit was euthanized and dissected to check for the reaction of the hormone hCG in its ovaries.
P6XG TIL in the 3rd grade LeVar Burton excelled at reading and was regularly left in charge of his class while teacher made herself a cup of tea. He would read aloud to his fellow classmates until his teacher returned.