› added 6 years ago

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TIL that loofah (the kind used for scrubbing in the shower) is actually an edible vegetable.

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WkRdd TIL that in 1902, Kaiser Wilhelm II instituted a tax on sparkling wine (Sektsteuer) to build up the German Navy. The tax is still in effect today and is about 1.02 Euro a bottle.
XExGj Til: On the French island of Ile de ré, the donkeys wear trousers. Because the marshes were thick with mosquitoes and other bugs, locals sewed pants to keep insects off the donkeys legs.
0dObM TIL that in 1947, a team of engineers working on the Harvard Mark II computer discovered that the system had crashed due to an actual moth stuck in a relay, and they taped the insect into their logbook, jokingly calling it the “first computer bug”—a term that has been used ever since.
6E6EW TIL that "right-wing" and "left-wing" labels originated from the French Revolution, in which anti-royalists sat on the left of the French National Assembly hall and pro-royalty sat on the right.
NvVe TIL King Pepy II came to the throne aged nine, and ruled until he was 100. It is said he had a great system for avoiding insects: he would cover a slave in honey. Flies swarmed to the slave and left Pepy in peace. (x-post /r/heresafunfact)