› added 11 years ago

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TIL in 1945, a radar engineer named Percy Spencer was working at Ratheon. He stepped in front of a magnetron, a device that powers radars. He noticed a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. Later that year, he filed a patent for the first microwave oven.

Read more invention.smithsonian.org

via reddit.com

ZpWAa TIL: In order to combat declining birth rates, the Korean government has numerous programs to match couples. One is "I am Jeolo" named after a reality show. Where they out unmarried people in a temple for 2 days. In addition, they will pay ₩20 million when you get married.
M7X0B TIL Iran is the only country where it’s legal to sell your organs, so demand always meets supply. A kidney is worth $231 USD and the government contributes part of the cost.
78ZMp TIL about the Macchina of Santa Rosa, a 30m/98ft high machine built to honour Saint Rose of Viterbo. Every year 100 men called "Facchini di Santa Rosa" hoist the machine, weighing about 5k kg/11k lb, and carry it through the streets of Viterbo, in Italy. The machine is rebuilt anew every five years
RX7Q TIL That in 2005, Fall Out Boy Tried to Release a Song About the Trappings of Fame Titled “I’m David Ruffin and These are the Temptations” Until Their Lawyers Intervened. The Song was Renamed “Our Lawyers Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued”
XoYr TIL a teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh 100 million tons due to its immense density. For comparison, the Empire State Building is purported to tip the scales at a mere 350,000 tons. Also, the highest mountain a neutron star can support is only about 4 inches, making it a near-perfect sphere.