› added 4 years ago

91

TIL there's an award called the 'Bad Sex in Fiction' award. The aim of the award is "to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it".

Read more literaryreview.co.uk

via reddit.com

awZ4A TIL The prototype of the Rolls Royce Ghost was so quiet inside that it made test drivers sick. The engineers had to remove some of the noise isolating material, and create seats that vibrated at specific frequencies to introduce some noise into the interior.
l7nVB TIL about rodent guillotines, which are used by researchers to kill the lab rodents when they've no more use for them
7owZ TIL That the USA made a $1 Billion payment to Native Americans for the theft of 56 million acres of land. Attorney general, Eric Holder, said the settlement was fair and honorable.
XEYQP TIL that in 1715, a Scottish Nobleman named William Maxwell escaped death by switching clothes with his wife’s maid on the night before his execution and fleeing the Tower of London. He escaped to Rome, where he lived with his wife for the rest of his life.
N7v6Q TIL in 1977 Kinney, Minnesota, with a population of 325 people, declared war on the United States and seceded from the union as a successful ploy to get foreign aid from the government to fix their water works.