› added 12 years ago

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TIL that Nikola Tesla was voluntarily chaste, despite numerous women “vying for his affections… some even madly in love with him”, because he believed sex inhibited his abilities to think in a scientific manner

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9llQ TIL Teller (from Penn & Teller) began his silence during his youth when performing for college fraternities. He found that if he was silent, they would stop throwing beer and focus on his act.
D9De TIL Having bridesmaids in a wedding wasn’t originally for moral support. They were “intended to confuse evil spirits or those who wished to harm the bride.”
5okp TIL After the American Civil War, some 7,000 Confederates set sail for Brazil. Their Dixie-loving descendants represent one of the most curious cultures in the modern world.
Y79nd TIL of Francesco Datini, a 14th century wealthy businessman who before his death in 1410 founded a secular charity fund(which still exists today) and left them his entire fortune. Among his possessions were 150.000 business records which the fund preserved nearly intact, tucked under a stairway
X0w6k TIL in three separate studies, researchers found that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand.