› added 12 years ago

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TIL many office thermostats do not adjust the temperature, but people feel the warmth changing because of a placebo. This effect is called ‘the placebo button’.

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4XO4a TIL about the preserved corpse of Jeremy Bentham, which was taken from public display in University College London in order for him to be "present but not voting" at the final council meeting of long-term provost Sir Malcolm Grant
j6VlR TIL In 1981, Ali Agca shot Pope John Paul II, four times in the abdomen during a parade. Despite being critically wounded, the Pope recovered and forgave Ali. He was pardoned in 2000 at the Pope's request. He later converted to Christianity in prison, leaving flowers on the Pope's tomb in 2014.
pWwN TIL that in 1971, 3 cosmonauts were exposed to space when their module, Soyuz 11, depressurized after separation from the world’s first space station. They are the only men who have died in space.
QNWed TIL women POWs imprisoned by the Japanese on Sumatra in 1943-44 created an orchestra using only their voices, and managed to perform 3 concerts in captivity. The orchestra ended less than a year later, after more than half of the members died and the other half became too weak to sing.
JYDpl TIL A WWI soldier injured in France in 1917, went on to marry the nurse that mistook him for a German spy and advised surgeons to take his life on the operating table. He accidentally spoke German to doctors while under a fever, and she took it as spy language. They were married for over 50 years.