› added 12 years ago

80

TIL that the first retail product ever to be scanned using its barcode was a 10 pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum. This gum is currently on display at the Smithsonian.

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DQoD TIL a $5 bill featuring Santa Claus was once legal tender
yVQgJ TIL a Pornocracy is a government ruled by prostitutes or by corrupt officials (Who sell themselves for power). Its a term made most famous by the Darke Age of the Papacy (904-964AD).
ZpwJa TIL Bill Stettner was a pioneering photographer. His photos appeared everywhere. He died risking everything for copyright laws but was scammed out of a fortune.
WkOx9 TIL there's an engineer, in the woods near Portland Oregon, who lives in an old Boeing 727 since 1999
8eA9K TIL Ethiopia acquired 3 Electric Chairs for capital punishment, but did not have enough reliable electricity to use them in practice. 2 of the chairs were converted to become garden furniture, the remaining was used by their Emperor as a throne.