› added 9 years ago

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TIL Starbucks is donating 100% of their leftover prepared meals to charity. They’ve been donating pastries since 2010, but refrigerated vans will now allow each of the 7,600 stores to distribute all the food that remains unsold at the end of the day while keeping it safe to eat

9A6B TIL that American company Bechtel took over the privatization of water in Bolivia in 1999 because the Bolivian government was too corrupt. Water prices subsequently raised from $5/month to $20/month for an income of $1000/year.
Oo9Y1 TIL Aleister Crowley infiltrated a pro-German propaganda newspaper in NYC during WW1 that was trying to keep America neutral. His incendiary writing helped undermine the propaganda movement and may have contributed to America joining the war.
ZpeBa TIL that Halley's Comet was seen in England in 1066, the year of the Norman Conquest, being interpreted as an omen, with a contemporary observer referring to it as a "source of tears to many mothers", portending "the downfall of my country."
E1NJd TIL that the ancient Greeks thought that Persephone spent her 1/3 of the year in the underworld between June and September, not the winter months. This is because crops in ancient Greece were planted in October, harvested in April, and threshed in May, unlike in more northern climates.
ADlOg TIL The German Empire committed genocide in Namibia from 1904-1908, killing upto 110000 natives, making it one of the earliest attempts at genocide in the 20th century. In 2015 the German government refused to consider reparations for the act.