› added 10 years ago

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TIL that the at-sign, @, is not a modern invention. It has been found on documents as old as 1345.

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X0rJE TIL a Norfolk Southern employee left points misaligned, resulting in a train collision that spilled chlorine gas everywhere, right next to a textile mill. 9 people died that day, 250 people had lung injuries requiring medical treatment.
Z89rG TIL that Kryptonite was introduced in the Superman story five years after the comic was first published. It was created as a way to give Clayton Collyer, the actor that played Superman/Clark Kent in the radio show, some time off so he could take a vacation.
OGJX1 TIL of Lei Tai. An Ancient Chinese form of Gladiatorial Combat/Entertainment where a local champion fighter builds a stage in the town square and invites anyone to knock him off the stage using any unarmed martial art. The winner then gets to "own" the stage, and issues a similar challenge as well.
wvVJ TIL John Swartzwelder, a writer for the Simpsons used to write episodes while sitting in a booth at a coffee shop “drinking copious amounts of coffee and smoking endless cigarettes”. When California passed an anti-smoking law, he bought the diner booth and installed it in his house.
rNOE0 TIL around late September to early October, bull moose will dig a "rutting pit," into which they’ll urinate and then splash urine on their antlers—a scent that induces cows to ovulate.