› added 5 years ago

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TIL The medieval "plague costume" beak was for smell — it was filled with herbs to mask the smell of the dying. Modern nurses do a similar thing in hospitals today. It is common for nurses to rub alcohol under their nose, under a respirator or face mask, to hide the scent of a patient's wounds.

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N9NE TIL George Hjorth parachuted into France three nights before D-day with three film cameras. His mission was to hide in front of the German lines at Normandy and film whatever happened on the beach. He completed the mission successfully, but the film is lost in the archives.
YpoOG TIL at 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake, Canadian ice makers secretly hid a loonie (dollar coin) at center ice of the hockey rink. After both Canadian men and women hockey teams won gold, the "lucky loonie" was put in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Canadians still hide coins at the Olympics for luck.
yVvjJ TIL The specific wording "the pen is mightier than the sword" was first used by author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, the same guy whose intro sentence “It was a dark and stormy night.” inspired a contest for the worst opening sentence for a novel.
wL7yY TIL that Aerosmith had a shoot 'em style arcade game called Revolution X
awgGM TIL Comedian Jenny Slate was effectively fired from SNL after accidentaly uttering the word "fucking" in the first scene of her first episode on the show. The experience led her to develop stage fright which she had to overcome through therapy