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TIL In the late 1600s, London coffeehouses were seen as areas of political unrest because they were popular with political men and writers. The Women's Petition claimed coffee drinking was an intellectual, effeminate pastime which made their husbands impotent.

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p8eXO TIL a Dutch student was suspended from school in 2008 after uploading a video showing him slapping his penis against the Taj Mahal. The act of slapping one's penis against an object is called "swaffelen" and was voted word of the year in 2008 in the Netherlands.
maAv TIL In 1953 North Korean air force lieutenant No Kum-Sok (age 21) flew his MiG-15 to the South. Since this fighter plane was then the best the Communist bloc had, No’s defection was considered an intelligence bonanza, and he was awarded the then exorbitant sum of $100,000 ($890,831 in 2014 dollars).
EPpx TIL that in 1977 a group of scientist discovered that any radioactive particle does not decay when being observed. This is called Quantum Zeno Effect.
PYBaG TIL that Judith Viorst (author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) wrote a poem about her parents' deaths when she was seven. Both her parents were still alive at the time, and were not amused.
pY9vb TIL the UK has been rabies-free since the beginning of the 20th century.