› added 11 years ago

84

TIL that Sylvan Goldman, inventor of the shopping cart, had to hire actors to walk around his store pushing shopping carts to convince customers to use them. Men didn’t want to seem feminine by using them and women didn’t want to feel like they were pushing a baby buggy.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

v79x TIL that during WWII women signed up to be impregnated by SS officers to help further the Aryan race. They waived all rights to the children they birthed, and they were raised in group homes that instilled Aryan beliefs.
Bw4k TIL that for 19 years, the German city of Hamburg maintained an anti-Scientology task force. Its activities included convincing local banks and realtors to deny business to Scientologist groups.
Pprg TIL until Dec 2013, McDonald’s employee help site advised workers to take food stamps, break food into smaller pieces to feel fuller, seek refunds for unopened presents, sell possessions online, and to “quit complaining” as “stress hormone levels rise by 15 percent after ten minutes of complaining.”
16AMr TIL about China's Gutter Oil and Spit Oil industry. Where cooking oils are recycled from gutters and sewers, and leftover liquid from someones meal in a restaurant is reused in the next customers meal. It's a common practice despite penalties for the practice including being sentenced to death.
9YOxB Til someone broke into the british museum of natural history to steal close to 300 exotic birds to sell the feathers to fly tiers so that he can buy a golden flute.