› added 4 years ago

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TIL in 2016 and 2017 American and Canadian diplomats stationed in Cuba began reporting unusual, unexplained health problems later described in a medical study as "a new syndrome in the diplomats that resembles persistent concussion." The cause of "Havana Syndrome" is still unknown.

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xVk10 TIL while playing the Wicked Witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton suffered second-degree burns due to a pyrotechnics accident, so she refused to do any more "fireworks" scenes. Later her stunt double was on a flying broomstick, which exploded between her legs and left her permanently scarred.
0wowM TIL that Carl Magee, a journalist who helped publicize the Teapot Dome scandal, also patented the first parking meter.
9YnmM TIL that the first album to sell over a million copies was Calypso by Harry Belafonte
MeyY8 TIL that after the Norman conquest, English nobility adopted the title Countess, but rejected "Count" in favor of keeping the term "Earl" because Count sounded too much like "cunt."
Kv1a TIL An extension cord with two male ends on it is often used to bench test electrical equipment in the industrial field, but is considered so dangerous in other applications, that it is commonly referred to as a “suicide cord.”